Huntingdon Greyhound Stadium was 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 ...

stadium in

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cr ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to t ...

Origins

The site chosen for the greyhound track in 1947 was to the north of Huntingdon in a small village called Sapley. It was constructed south of the Kings Ripton Road adjacent to the west side of Sapley Road (originally Sapley Lane).

Opening

The circumference of the track was a small 380 yards and was described as a tight circuit with a maximum capacity of just 500 spectators. Originally running race distances over 260 & 460 yards the first Proprietor & Racing Manager was B.Morehen who resided at Phylbern Kennels in the nearby village of Graveley. Initial trials were arranged for September 1947 with the opening meeting being held on Saturday 20 September 1947 at 3pm.

History

The stadium traded as an independent (unaffiliated to a governing body) track. Morehen conducted his own rules that included all greyhounds having to have a trial within eight race meetings and should a greyhound find too much time the race would be voided and re-run without the offending greyhound. During the 1960s Monday and Friday night racing took place on an all-grass track with distances of 330, 440 and 710 yards behind an 'Inside Sumner' hare. By 1980 Friday night racing had changed to Thursday night racing and regular open races featured events called the Hunt Cup, Derby, Cambridgeshire, St Leger & Cesarewitch (not the official

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 ...

(NGRC) licensed races). The NGRC offered the chance for independent tracks to join a new permit scheme in the early 1970s but only six tracks decided to take the option because of the added costs and legislation involved. However the permit scheme remained open and on 10 July 1984 Huntingdon joined. One of the requirements was the building of 64 on site racing kennels and the Racing Manager under NGRC rules was Mrs S.Johnston. In April 1986 the permit licence was withdrawn by the NGRC for failure to adhere to their rules (mainly concerning unlicensed staff) but the track continued to trade as an independent under owners Alan Chalkley, C Reeves & P Curtis. Race nights consisted of Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday evenings and distances were 70, 245, 410, 585 and 750 metres.

Closure

The stadium closed on 18 May 1993 becoming part of the recreation ground and then a housing estate on Burnett Way & Lamport Drive.

References

{{English greyhound tracks Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom