Doncaster 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. Tr ...

track located in Stainforth, 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 ...

, England. It is sometimes referred to as Meadow Court Stadium and was previously known as Stainforth Stadium. It is not to be confused with the former

Doncaster Greyhound Track The Doncaster Greyhound Stadium was a greyhound racing stadium in Doncaster. It was sometimes incorrectly referred to as Sprotbrough Greyhound Track due to its location near the Sprotbrough Road. It is not to be confused with the current Don ...

that existed near the York Road. The stadium has executive suites, a restaurant, a number of bars and fast food areas. Racing takes place every Monday and Wednesday night, Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.

History

Pre-war History

Stainforth Stadium opened as a speedway dirt track in 1929 following extensive work on an area of marsh land west of Station Road that was turned from marsh to cinder. The track consisted of sand, three inches of concrete and then finished off with nine inches of cinder. The first speedway took place on Easter Monday 1930 but despite a promising start the Stainforth speedway company went into liquidation in 1930. In 1933 the Stainforth Amateur Athletic Club bought the stadium but the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

brought the Athletics to a halt. However, in 1941 during the war a greyhound and whippet track was added, the first meeting was on Saturday 22 March 1941 and plans were drawn up for racing every Saturday at 5.30pm. Races were held over 300 yards and 465 yards and the track attempted to gain permission for a tote in 1945 without success.

Post-War history

The track remained a flapping track (not licensed by the

National Greyhound Racing Club The National Greyhound Racing Club was an organisation that governed Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom. History The National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC) was formed in 1928 and this body would be responsible for regulation, licensing and the ...

) for thirty five years; boxing events and trotting was also seen at the stadium that was owned by Benjamin Lovatt at the time. Distances changed to 350 and 600 yards and meetings took place on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The stadium was reportedly sold in 1976 but plans to upgrade the track ended with the stadium closing in 1978 and the site remained derelict for a further thirteen years. In 1992 businessman and greyhound enthusiast Chick Hicken and his partner June Hicken submitted plans for a new stadium to Doncaster council. The plans were passed during March 1993 a newly built track costing £1.5 million opened. The track wanted to become part of the

and brought in former English Greyhound Derby winning trainer Barbara Tompkins as General Manager; Racing Managers were Andrew Walker and Richard Bentley. A three tier grandstand was constructed with a restaurant, cocktail bar, public bar and other facilities all being available for the customers. Sometimes known as Meadow Court Stadium, the distances were over 275, 480, 661 and 709 metres on a track circumference of 430 metres. The opening also resulted in an exodus of trainers from

Craven Park, Hull Craven Park (currently known as the Sewell Group Craven Park Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is a rugby league stadium located in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is the home of Hull Kingston Rovers, one of two profes ...

in order to train at Stainforth. Tompkins retired in 2004 and the stadium re-branded from Stainforth Stadium to Doncaster Stadium in 2006. Former

Belle Vue Stadium Belle Vue Stadium was a greyhound racing track in Belle Vue, Manchester, England, where the first race around an oval track in Britain was held on 24 July 1926. It has also been used for motorcycle speedway, as the home ground of Elite League ...

Racing Manager Stephen Gray and Richard Munton had spells as Racing Managers there from 2006-2008 and 2008-2010 respectively before former

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 ...

manager Mick Smith arrived. The track has grown in reputation and held the TV Trophy in 2008 & the Trainers Championship in 2010. The Yorkshire St Leger was inaugurated in 2004 and became the biggest event held at the track annually. In 2018 the stadium signed a deal with SIS to race every Monday and Wednesday evening, Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.

Competitions

Yorkshire St Leger

Track records

Current

Former

References

External links

Official site

British Greyhound Racing Board
{{coord, 53.58907, N, 1.03025, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Defunct speedway venues in England Sports venues in South Yorkshire Sports venues in Doncaster Sport in South Yorkshire