White City Greyhound Stadium

WHITE CITY GREYHOUND STADIUM This site is not an official website for the track shown here and is neither approved or endorsed by the stadium. I am indebted to Richard English for the scans of badges on this page.
In a stadium built for the 1908 Olympic Games greyhound racing first took place on 20th June 1927. The track was situated at 0° 13' W 51° 30' N. The very first race was won by Charlie Cranston. The White City hosted the Greyhound Derby final from its outset in July 1927, when Entry Badge successfully claimed the Ł1000 first prize, until the track closed. It also hosted the Cambridgeshire and the Wood Lane Stakes.

I am grateful to Caroline Jackson for her memories of Greenfield Dog track and two trainers who started their career there, but later went on to much greater things at the White City. Two young lads that worked there, Jimmy Rimmer and Joseph Pickering (my father) went on to be well known Greyhound Trainers. Jimmy Rimmer went to work for the GRA at their London Tracks in the early 1930s and went on to be a Trainer in his own right at White City London and then Wembley. He trained one of the best dogs in the history of the sport, Wild Woolley. Joseph Pickering followed on not long after and became a trainer in his own right at New Cross in 1952, then Haringay, finishing up at White City London from 1954 until his retirement in 1984. Joe was a modest man, unaffected by the great things he was achieving, especially at the White City where he replaced Bert Hayes. Joe won the St Leger with Stormy Spirit in 1977 and the Trafalgar Cup at Wembley with Our Tim. Later on he also took the Scottish Derby in 1963 with We’ll See who recorded a 29.19 secs. Other successes included the Cesarewith with Rostown Genius, and the Scurry Gold Cup in 1973 with Casa Miel, who recorded a 22.83 secs.
I am grateful to Jon Seddon for the following link to a map showing the whereabouts of the old track http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html?txtXCoord=523101&txtYCoord=180888
*I am grateful to Vinny Hinde for the rare White City Members card shown below*

Track Records, as of 1947, are shown below together with an indication of how fast the time is in comparison to other tracks, both for currently open and defunct tracks, in the UK. Ratings are between 0 and 100, where 100 is an extremely fast time and reflects the speed of the track, tightness of the circuit and quality of greyhound visiting the tracks. I am grateful to Tony Nash for providing the data. SPRINTS (up to 385m) STANDARD (386-549m) DISTANCE (550-699m) EXTENDED (700-999m) White City Track Records at a snapshot in time:- STANDARD 500 yards Ballyhennessey Sandhills 28.39 secs Rating 15 6th November 1937 STANDARD 525 yards Priceless Border 28.75 secs Rating 48 4th October 1947 STANDARD 550 yards Quare Times 30.38 secs Rating 40 5th August 1946 DISTANCE 700 yards Bosham 40.58 secs Rating 15 14th May 1935 EXTENDED 725 yards Shaggy Lass 41.43 secs Rating 43 4th May 1946 Track Records as of 1970 STANDARD 500 yards Outside Left 27.55 secs Rating 43 1958 STANDARD 525 yards Yellow Printer 28.30 secs Rating 63 1968 STANDARD 550 yards Monalee Champion 29.82 secs Rating 58 1967 EXTENDED 725 yards Cash For Dan 40.16 secs Rating 73 1969 Track Records as of 1980 STANDARD 500 metres Ballinska Band 29.16 secs Rating 64 DISTANCE 680 metres Sallys Cobbler 40.85 secs Rating 56
This section gives a comprehensive picture of the badges produced by the track throughout the ages, but only provides the briefest of glimpses of its history. For those wishing to undertake further research we can recommend a visit to http://astore.amazon.co.uk/wwwgreyhoundd-21 where further reading can be undertaken.



			In the early days of the Derby the owners of the finalists were each presented with a commemorative medal. I am very grateful to Richard English for providing a scan of the medal given to the trainer of the 3rd placed greyhound Stoute Heart.
			The badge shown opposite was to gain entrance, as a member, to the White City Gaming Club which operated during an after racing at the most famous of English tracks.
If you have rare White City badges and artefacts for sale then email johnwslusar@gmail.com