Towcester Greyhound Stadium is a

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

track located within

Towcester Racecourse Towcester Racecourse is a greyhound racing track and former horse racing venue at Towcester (pronounced "''Toh-ster''") in Northamptonshire, England. It has staged the English Greyhound Derby in 2018, 2021 and has won the contract for the next 5 ...

Towcester Towcester ( ) is an affluent market town in Northamptonshire, England. It currently lies in West Northamptonshire but was the former administrative headquarters of the South Northamptonshire district council. Towcester is one of the oldest ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It has been the home of the

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 ...

since 2021, having previously hosted the event from 2017 to 2018.

Opening

Towcester opened on 6 December 2014 becoming the first track in Britain to open since the 1995 openings of

Harlow Harlow is a large town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a new town, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire and London, Harlow occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the upp ...

and

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in Kent, south-east England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient British trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and next to the Swale, a strip of sea separa ...

. The idea of a track inside the horse racing course was created by Lord Hesketh the racecourse owner and Chief Executive Kevin Ackerman. Former

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in East London, east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London and the Historic counties of England, ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Chari ...

Racing Manager Chris Page, Deputy Racing Manager Andy Lisemore and Steve Cale were recruited to run the operation.

Construction

At a cost of £1.5 million the 420 metres circumference circuit was created by laying down 60,000 tonnes of soil so that the greyhound racing surface met the horse racing home straight at a level setting, resulting in a six-metre rise. The bends are very wide which assists the occasional eight dog race. The kennels were constructed inside unused horse stables and new trainers included five times champion trainer Mark Wallis, 2011 champion trainer Chris Allsopp, Kevin Hutton and Matt Dartnall. The distances are 260, 480, 500, 655, 686 and 906 metres and the first race was won by 4-1 shot Fairest Royal trained by Wallis. A big screen situated on the home straight was a new feature to greyhound tracks.

Achievements

* Trainer Kevin Hutton won the prestigious Trainers Championship in March 2015. * Hutton twice retained the title in 2016 and 2017, joining a select group of trainers to win more than one title. * The track was crowned the BAGS National Champions at

Perry Barr Stadium Perry Barr Stadium (also known as Perry Barr Greyhound Stadium and previously as Alexander Sports Ground(s)) is a stadium and a Greyhound Board of Great Britain regulated greyhound racing track on Aldridge Road in Perry Barr, Birmingham, Engl ...

in December 2015 (team manager - Andy Lisemore). * Retained the BAGS National Championship in December 2016 (team manager - Simon Pearson). * Awarded the Greyhound Derby after the closure of

Wimbledon Stadium Wimbledon Stadium, also known as Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium, was a greyhound racing track located in Wimbledon in southwest London, England. It also hosted stock car and other small circuit motor racing events, and until 2005 hosted motorc ...

. * Awarded the Puppy Derby in 2017 following the closure of

. * Kevin Hutton won the 2018 English Greyhound Derby *In 2018 the track gained another original classic race, the Oaks, from the

Greyhound Racing Association The Greyhound Racing Association was a UK-based private company founded in 1925 and existed until 2019. It was involved in the management of sports venues, notably greyhound racing stadia. The GRA was responsible for introducing Greyhound racing ...

(GRA). * In 2018 the stadium signed a deal with ARC to race every Saturday morning and Sunday evening. * In 2021, Thorn Falcon won the Derby for Belgian born

Patrick Janssens Patrick Janssens (born 19 September 1956) is a Belgian former politician. He was a member of the SP.a and the former mayor of the port city Antwerp. Career Janssens studied "Political and Social Sciences" and "Applied Economic Sciences" (b ...

2018 administration

In August 2018 the future of Towcester racecourse was put in doubt. A statement released by the racecourse on 16 August read: "Towcester Racecourse Company Limited, proprietors of Towcester Racecourse, are currently experiencing trading difficulties and are in discussions with key stakeholders and professional advisers on the way forward. However, the directors have concluded that they have no alternative in the short term but to seek court protection and are now taking steps to place the company into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

. As a result, the last greyhound meeting was on 12 August. On 23 August

KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...

were appointed as administrators and 134 out of 137 members of staff at the racecourse were made redundant. Eight trainers joined

Henlow Henlow is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of the county of Bedfordshire, England, about south-east of the county town of Bedford. The name Henlow is believed to derive from the old English ''henna hlaw'', meaning ...

, including

Mark Wallis Mark Andrew Wallis (born 1964) is an English greyhound trainer. He is a record 13 times UK champion Greyhound Trainer of the Year. Profile In 1990, Wallis joined leading trainer Linda Jones (greyhound trainer), Linda Jones at the Imperial Kennels ...

and

Nick Savva Nicolas Savva known as Nick Savva is a greyhound trainer and breeder. He is a four times winner of the English Greyhound Derby and is regarded as Britain's most successful breeder, along with his late wife Natalie Savva (1935–2019) who also hel ...

while Kevin Hutton joined Monmore. On 13 November it was announced by the administrators that the racecourse's assets were being sold to a company called Fermor Land LLP. This company was formed on 18 October (26 days before the sale) and is headed by Lord Hesketh's brother-in-law Mark Westropp, a trustee of the Hesketh Family trusts.

Re-opening

In October 2019 Kevin Boothby, promoter of

Henlow Stadium Henlow Stadium is a greyhound track located at Stondon, in the English county of Bedfordshire, slightly to the north of Hitchin. The stadium has a restaurant, a number of bars and a bistro. Racing takes place every Monday and Thursday morning, ...

, signed a deal for a 10-year lease at Towcester, with the intention that greyhound racing would re-start in March 2020. The stadium's re-opening was delayed by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

before eventually opening on 22 May 2020. Several major competitions returned to the track including the English Greyhound Derby, Puppy Derby and Juvenile.

Competitions

*The

Champion Hurdle The Champion Hurdle is a Grade 1 National Hunt hurdle race in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run on the Old Course at Cheltenham over a ...

*The

English Greyhound Derby Invitation The English Greyhound Derby Invitation formerly the Derby Consolation Stakes was a long standing competition for greyhounds eliminated during the later stages of the English Greyhound Derby. It was originally for the six greyhounds eliminated a ...

The Puppy Derby The Puppy Derby is a greyhound competition held at Towcester Greyhound Stadium. The event was held at Wimbledon Stadium from 1929 to 2016, until the closure of the stadium in 2017. Other Puppy Derby races have been created by other race tracks in ...

*The Oaks * Juvenile

Track records

(new track 2020 onwards)

Former (2020 onwards)

(2014-2018)

References

{{English greyhound tracks Sports venues in Northamptonshire 2014 establishments in England Sports venues completed in 2014 Greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom