{"id":49815,"date":"2021-11-10T09:03:43","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T03:33:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/?p=49815"},"modified":"2023-08-27T20:14:34","modified_gmt":"2023-08-27T14:44:34","slug":"the-english-greyhound-derby-to-return-to-towcester-in-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/the-english-greyhound-derby-to-return-to-towcester-in-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"The English Greyhound Derby to Return to Towcester in 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Every sport has its pinnacle event.\u00a0From the Super Bowl and the NBA Championship Finals to the soccer World Cup and the Stanley Cup, there is that one game that all aspiring sporting stars dream of competing in.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Greyhound racing may be considered rather more quaint than those showpiece occasions, but even so, it still has its own \u2018major\u2019 \u2013 the English Greyhound Derby.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Apart from a gap in the schedule caused by the Second World War, the Greyhound Derby has been run every year since 1927.\u00a0To that end, it\u2019s one of the oldest ongoing sporting events in the world. And it has the royal seal of approval too, with the late Prince Phillip owning the 1968 winner, Camira Flash.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">We are deeply saddened to hear that His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh has passed away aged 99<\/p>\n<p>The Duke is pictured here with his greyhound Camira Flash, which won the 1968 English Greyhound Derby at White City<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/RIPPrincePhillip?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#RIPPrincePhillip<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/H9io43a3eK\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/H9io43a3eK<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 GBGB (@GreyhoundBoard) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GreyhoundBoard\/status\/1380496798897340419?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">April 9, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There were fears for the future of the race after Wimbledon Stadium was sold, with no permanent home found since. However, it has now been confirmed that Towcester Greyhound Stadium will take on hosting duties for the foreseeable future, and that assurance is exactly what an occasion of this magnitude requires.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.betfair.com\/sport\/greyhound-racing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">greyhound betting<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> odds for the 2022 Derby have been published as well, with\u00a0the early favorite Explosive Boy priced at +2000, who will be looking to follow the proud lineage of Irish dogs in the race \u2013 the likes of Paul Hennessy and Pat Buckley have enjoyed success in the race in recent years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jackslittlething is a prolific winner on the circuit and is listed as joint second-favorite at +2500, and his connections will be hoping for a continuation of that at Towcester, while Buckley \u2013 the 2020 Derby winner \u2013 will be on training duties for Knocknaboul Syd (+2500), another that has caught the eye of the betting community.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To the victor will go the spoils \u2013 a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/sport\/other-sport\/greyhound-derby-final-worth-175000-21008876\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">handsome prize<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for first place of \u00a3175,000 ($235,000) sets the scene nicely, and of course, beyond that, it\u2019s a chance to secure a place in the rich lineage of greyhound racing\u2019s most prestigious race.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>A Storied History<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As we know today, soccer and cricket have gone on to become the sports of choice for the masses in the UK, but a century ago the landscape was slightly different.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instead, two other pursuits ruled the roost when it came to sporting interest \u2013 horse and greyhound racing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the struggles of greyhound racing in recent years, which include masses of stadium closures and a general apathy that has led to dwindling attendances, it\u2019s something of a surprise when you learn the staggering numbers that the sport enjoyed in its heyday from the 1920s to the 1960s.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\ud83d\uddd3\ufe0f ON THIS DAY in history&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Mick The Miller became the first greyhound to claim back to back English Greyhound Derby victories when winning the 1929 and 1930 races. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7u8W31liFk\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/7u8W31liFk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sporting Life (@SportingLife) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SportingLife\/status\/1277159225584730113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">June 28, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\u00a0<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Back then, it\u2019s estimated that 70 million people would watch greyhound racing in the UK each year, and in 1939 an astonishing 92,000 spectators crammed into the now-demolished White City Stadium in London to watch the action unfold.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the loss<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the White City Stadium, and the demolition of its successor at Wimbledon, that has partially led to the decline in interest in the sport, with fewer opportunities to watch greyhound racing locally for many in the UK. Out of sight, out of mind as the old saying goes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the Greyhound Derby remains one of the most iconic and storied sporting occasions for Brits to enjoy, and with Towcester on board perhaps the future is looking a lot rosier than it has for some time.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every sport has its pinnacle event.\u00a0From the Super Bowl and the NBA Championship Finals to the soccer World Cup and the Stanley Cup, there is that one game that all aspiring sporting stars dream of competing in. Greyhound racing may be considered rather more quaint than those showpiece occasions, but even so, it still has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[99],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49815"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49815"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73244,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49815\/revisions\/73244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}