Thomas Johnston Jr. (1933–2001) was a British

greyhound trainer A greyhound trainer is a person who trains greyhounds for racing. This involves exercising, feeding, and grooming them in addition to keeping the greyhound in race condition to enable the greyhound to race to the best of its ability. History Befo ...

. He was twice UK Champion trainer in 1963 and 1972.

Profile

Johnston's kennels were based at Stilliters Farm on Moulsoe Road in

Cranfield Cranfield is a village and civil parish in the west of Bedfordshire, England, situated between Bedford and Milton Keynes. It had a population of 4,909 in 2001. increasing to 5,369 at the 2011 Census. The parish is in Central Bedfordshire uni ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

. In 1963 he took over the kennels after moving from Scotland. His father Tom Johnston Sr. was the winning trainer of the

1928 English Greyhound Derby The 1928 Greyhound Derby Final took place on 28 July 1928 at White City Stadium. There was an increase in prize money on the previous year with the Greyhound Racing Association offering substantial sums of £1,500 and a gold cup for the winner, ...

) and trained greyhounds on the coursing fields for Robert Jardine many years before oval track racing arrived to the United Kingdom.

Racing career

He was a leading trainer for over a decade during the 1960s and 1970s and won the

Scottish Greyhound Derby The Scottish Greyhound Derby was an original classic greyhound competition held at Shawfield Stadium. Held at Carntyne Stadium from 1928 to 1968, after the closure of Carntyne the race appeared at Shawfield from 1970 until 1985. In 1988 the Gre ...

in 1963 and 1964. He ran out of

West Ham Stadium West Ham Stadium was a stadium that existed between 1928 and 1972 in Custom House, in East London (it was in the County Borough of West Ham, in the county of Essex, at the time of the stadium's construction). The stadium was built in 1928 on Pri ...

until 1969 before joining

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

where he trained until his retirement. He trained

Westpark Mustard Westpark Mustard was a white and black racing greyhound in the 1970s. By Newdown Heather out of April Merry she broke the British and European record of 19 consecutive victories held by Mick the Miller, when recording a 20th consecutive win on 28 ...

who broke the British and European record by winning twenty consecutive races in 1974. He died in 2001 aged 68.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Tom British greyhound racing trainers 1933 births 2001 deaths