Catford Stadium

Catford Stadium in 2003
Interactive map of Catford Stadium
Location	Catford, London
Construction
Opened	1932
Closed	2003

Catford Stadium was a historicgreyhound racing stadium inCatford, a suburb of London.

Charles Benstead and Frank Sutton founded the stadium on Southern Railway land between two commuter lines in 1932. The entrance was in Adenmore Road, west of Doggett Road.^[1]

The inaugural meeting was held on Saturday 30 July 1932 and consisted of a seven race card; each event had four or five runners.Mick the Miller was paraded around the track before the fourth race. The first racing manager was Lt. Col. A J Vernon and there were no fewer than eighty bookmakers. A kennel complex was constructed at Layham's Farm,Keston, nearBiggin Hill and six trainers were appointed.^[2]

The track was described as a tight 369 yard circumference circuit and the hare was an 'Outside Breco Silent' before being switched to a more conventional 'Outside McKee'. Buses originally dropped patrons off just outside the main gates and by the entrance gates weretote facilities and the South bank enclosure. The West forecourt had a covered grandstand with tote facilities, with the judges' box directly opposite the winning line. Behind this were the race day kennels. The East forecourt had a larger covered grandstand on the back straight. The track could also be accessed from behind this grandstand, as there were two bridges across the Southern Railway line. To use the bridges to the track an entrance fee was paid at the turnstiles on the other side of the railway line from the stadium itself; thus the bridges were actually part of the stadium complex. Finally opposite the main entrance on bends 3 and 4 was the famous tote board nestled between the uncovered north bank enclosure.^{[words missing: and what?][3]}

Early trainers at the track were Jock Hutchinson, H Hammond, Claude Champion, Albert Bedford, Harry Woolner, Dal Hawkesley and Ernie Pratt and a major event 'TheGold Collar' was introduced in 1933 which would gain classic status. Two other events called the Catford British Breeders Produce Stakes and Cobb Marathon Bowl were introduced; the former became very popular with the event being run twice during many years and the latter was sponsored bybrewer Rupert Cobb and became a significant test for the leading staying stars, this race would continue until 1975.^[4]

Tote turnover after the war was extremely healthy and the seventh best in London and Great Britain just ahead ofWest Ham Stadium.^[5] On 20 September 1946 an express train from Victoria to Ramsgate derailed and five of the ten coaches fell down the 20 foot embankment landing in the stadium car park. The stadium employees were first on to the scene and remarkably only one person died as a result of the crash.^[6]

In 1952 the Managing Director Frank Sutton died; Sutton had introduced the British Breeders Produce Stakes. His son John would eventually take over from his father and take over the family business and introduced the very first jackpot pool in 1961, later to be copied by horse racing. In 1954 the Dave Barker trainer Ardskeagh Ville was the first and only hound from Catford to make theEnglish Greyhound Derby final. Charles Benstead sold his share in the company in 1959 to Harold Clifton.^[7]

By 1963 theGreyhound Racing Association purchased the track and John Sutton eventually become their Managing Director. The GRA introduced under track heating system at Catford with electric cables sewn into the track eight inches under the turf. Sister trackCharlton Stadium finished racing during 1971 resulting in theGreenwich Cup and Ben Truman Stakes finding a new home at Catford. One year later the track was the first London stadium to start eight dog racing and the circuit was substantially altered with steep banking on the bends.^[7]

During the 1970s trainers at the track would include Mike Smith, John Horsfall and Paddy Milligan. The legendaryScurlogue Champ set three track records over marathon distances of 718 and 888 metres from 1984-1986 and in 1987 theScurry Gold Cup became another major event to be held at the track, the classic race arrived fromHarringay Stadium after its closure.^[8]

TheCesarewitch was switched to fromBelle Vue Stadium to Catford in 1995 before switching toOxford Stadium later.

During 2001–2002, a trainer Lennie Knell was caught on camera admitting overfeeding dogs to slow them down,^[9] and a greyhound died of heat exhaustion.^[10][11] Subsequently, theGreyhound Board of Great Britain brought in stringent rules that required every stadium and greyhound transporter to have cool air management systems and any trainer found deliberately overfeeding dogs would lose their licence. Knell was disqualified from all licensed greyhound tracks in May 2002 after an inquiry by the governing body.

On 6 November 2003, following years of rumours, the track closed overnight without warning, when it was announced the previous day's race meeting had been the last.^[12]

Trainers John Simpson, Tony Taylor, Maxine Locke and John Walsh moved toWimbledon,Keston based Steve Gammon left forCrayford, Sonja Spiers and Kevin Connor went toSittingbourne and Mark Lavender switched toPortsmouth. Racing Manager Derek Hope was able to take up the same position at Wimbledon soon after because Simon Harris had left forCoventry^[12] Stadium bookmaker John Humphreys who had stood in the main ring since 1966 and sponsored theGold Collar for 18 years, retired.^[12]

In 1934 severalspeedway meetings were held on a track constructed inside the dog track. In 1949 permission was sought to operatespeedway from the stadium again but permission was refused.^[13] Not to be confused withThe Mount stadium, another stadium inCatford.

The local amateur football side,Catford Wanderers, were mooted to move into the stadium, though this dream was never realised. The stadium has since caught on fire and was subsequently demolished, along with the iconic tote board. The site has been redeveloped for housing byBarratt Homes as "Catford Green".^[14][15][16]

(an original classic competition)

(an original classic competition)

(an original classic competition)

• H = Hurdles

• Pictures at Derelict London
• More Pictures
• Catford Greyhound Racing History

51°26′56″N0°1′28″W / 51.44889°N 0.02444°W /51.44889; -0.02444

• Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom
• Sport in the London Borough of Lewisham
• Defunct speedway venues in England
• Defunct sports venues in London
• Catford
• Sports venues completed in 1932
• Defunct greyhound racing venues in London
• Greyhound racing in London
• Demolished sports venues in the United Kingdom
• Burned buildings and structures in the United Kingdom

• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from July 2020
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from October 2016
• Use British English from October 2016
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Pages using infobox mapframe without shape links in Wikidata
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Pages using the Kartographer extension