Askern Greyhound Stadium is a former

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 ...

stadium in Selby Road,

Askern Askern () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish within the City of Doncaster, in South Yorkshire, England. It is on the A19 road between Doncaster and Selby. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Y ...

, near

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

. The track was independent (unaffiliated to a governing body) and racing took place every Wednesday and Friday at 7.15pm with occasional Sunday racing until it ceased on Friday 23 September 2022. Facilities included a club room, bar and fast food.

Origins

Askern applied for a betting licence during 1938 and it was approved on 15 October 1938. The track was constructed north of Askern on the west side of Selby Road and the east side of the Askern branch of the

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

in an area known as Norton Common.

History

The racing was independent (unaffiliated to a governing body) and is believed to have started in 1939. In the 1980s the track had a circumference of 350 yards and race over distances of 225, 425m and 600 metres with an Inside Sumner hare system. Described as a tight circuit with a short run to the first bend it had a club house and car park for 100 vehicles. In 1998, the track was run by promoter Harold Askew who leased out his schooling track at the same time in order to oversee proceedings. Modern race distances remained as 225, 425 and 600 metres and the track ran some races for

whippet The Whippet is a dog breed of medium size. It is a sighthound breed that originated in England, descended from the Greyhound. Whippets today still strongly resemble a smaller Greyhound. Part of the hound group, Whippets have relatively few ...

s and

lurcher A lurcher is a cross-bred dog resulting from mating a Greyhound or other sighthound with a dog of another type, commonly a herding dog or a terrier. The lurcher was for hundreds of years strongly associated with poaching; in modern times it ...

s. On 23 September the last race meeting was held and the track closed, leaving just two active independent tracks.

References

{{Authority control Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom