The 1958 Greyhound Derby took place during June with the final being held on 28 June 1958 at

White City Stadium White City Stadium was a stadium located in White City, London, England. Built for the 1908 Summer Olympics, it hosted the finish of the first modern marathon and other sports like swimming, speedway, boxing, show jumping, athletics, stock car ...

. The winner was Pigalle Wonder and the winning owner Al Burnett received £1,500.

Final result

At White City (over 525 yards):

Distances

2¾, Neck, 4, 4¾, 1 (lengths)
The distances between the greyhounds are in finishing order and shown in lengths. From 1950 one length was equal to 0.08 of one second.

Competition Report

Two brindle dogs called Pigalle Wonder and

Mile Bush Pride Mile Bush Pride was a racing greyhound of the late 1950s and 1960. He is one of three greyhounds along with Patricias Hope and Trev's Perfection to win the Triple Crown which consisted of the English Greyhound Derby, Scottish Greyhound Derby and ...

were heavily involved in the 1958 Derby and would become famous names within the sport of greyhound racing. Pigalle Wonder started his career called Prairie Champion and won the 1957

McCalmont Cup The McCalmont Cup is a greyhound racing competition held annually at Kilkenny Greyhound Stadium at St. James' Park, Kilkenny, Ireland. The competition is a feature competition in the Irish racing calendar organised by the Irish Greyhound Board. ...

Kilkenny Greyhound Stadium Kilkenny Greyhound Stadium is a greyhound racing track located in north-west Kilkenny in Ireland. The racing takes place on a Wednesday and Friday evenings at 6.30pm. St James Park in Kilkenny is a large park that contains sports pitches to ...

. He was bought by

Al Burnett Al Burnett (1906–1973) was a British impresario, known as the "nightclub king". He ran the Stork Club in Swallow Street in London's West End. Early life He was born Aaron Isaacs in Mile End, London. Career Burnett was master of ceremonies (MC ...

(owner of the

Pigalle Club The Pigalle Club was a supper club and live music venue in Piccadilly, in the West End of London, West End area of Central London. It was owned by Vince Power, John Vincent Power. Dave West (entrepreneur), Dave West also owned shares in the Pigall ...

in London) after clocking 29.10 sec in a 525 yards trial at

Harold's Cross Stadium Harold's Cross Stadium was a greyhound racing stadium in Harold's Cross, Dublin, owned and operated by the Irish Greyhound Board. Facilities included a grandstand restaurant, carvery, a number of bars, totalisator betting and seating. Racin ...

and was renamed Pigalle Wonder. However in the first round he suffered a shock defeat. This defeat led to the bookmakers making Kilcaskin Kern the new Derby favourite, this fawn dog had finished the previous year well and broke the track record in his heat recording 28.63. Mile Bush Pride had been bought for the Derby by Jack Harvey for Noel Purvis but suffered a minor setback when a corn had to be removed from his foot shortly before the first round which he safely negotiated. The second round brought mixed fortunes for the main contenders, Kilcaskin Kern won but finished lame after the race. Pigalle Wonder and Mile Bush Pride progressed comfortably. In the semi-finals Kilcaskin Kern was declared fit but failed to progress any further. Mile Bush Pride clipped three spots off the track record set by Kilcaskin Kern before Pigalle Wonder won by 13 lengths, in 28.44, breaking the record once again in the second semi-final. The

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

trainers once again dominated proceedings with four finalists, Bob Burls handled two of them, the first time he had trained a Derby finalist. The draw was unkind to Mile Bush Pride and trap one further enhanced the chances of Pigalle Wonder who went off at 4-5 favourite. Northern Lad made the best start and led until the third bend but Pigalle Wonder always in close pursuit took over the lead at that point and drew clear to win by over two lengths. Mile Bush Pride ran on well for third place despite his bad trap draw.

References

{{English Greyhound Derby Greyhound Derby

English Greyhound Derby The English Greyhound Derby is the most prestigious race on the British Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom, greyhound racing calendar, with a history stretching back to 1927. It was first held at White City Stadium, but moved to Wimbledon ...

English Greyhound Derby

Final result

Distances

Competition Report

See also

References