This Week In Racing History

AUGUST
20

Blythe Spirit took out the 1950 350 yards Championship, scoring by three lengths from All Radium. The field consisted of 10 starters.

Olympic Park track opened for its first meeting, in 1962. Races were conducted over 560 yards and 800 yards. The track followed the closure of North Melbourne.

21
NSW champion bitch Odious won the 1975 Laurels Classic over 507 metres at Sandown Park, scoring by 10 lengths from box eight. Odious set a new time of 30.34 and earned $4,000 for her victory.

In For Life took out the 2004 Sprint Championship NSW State Final at Wentworth Park (520 metres) by a whopping 13 lengths. Overcoming box six, In For Life ran a fast 29.99. On the same night, Classy Customer took out the NSW State Final.

22
Maggiore commenced what would be an impressive early career by winning his first start for trainer Jim Ward, scoring by two lengths up the 366 metres straight at Wyong in 1987.

The great Rapid Journey won the 1998 National Sprint Championship NSW State Final by eight and a half lengths from November Miss.

23
Blythe Spirit won the 1950 Lismore 500 yards Championship, downing Sole Possession by a length with All Radium third. Blythe Spirit had won the 350 yards championship just three days earlier from a similar field.

Glider's Son defeated the Victorian pair of Stardom Road and Waverly Doll in the 1980 Young Star Classic final at Wentworth Park (530 metres, grass). The -trained black flyer ran 31.03 to set a new race record.

Velocity Regina ran 28.51 to set a new track record over 498 metres at Townsville in 2011.

24
Cooper downed City Skopos to win the 1987 Trophy at Olympic Park, the first to be run over the sprint journey (511 metres). The race, inaugurated in 1965, had previously been contested over the 732 metres trip.

The ill-fated NSW stayer Smart Valentino took out the 2013 National Distance Championship, run over 725 metres at . The Mark Swift owned and trained stayer defeated Magpie Bob of Western Australia and Lashing Jill of Tasmania. The victory was only the ninth time a NSW stayer had taken out the final in 45 runnings.

25
from Queensland became the first greyhound to win both the National Sprint Championship and the National Distance Championship in a career when he annexed the latter over 710 metres at in 2011. Dashing Corsair had joined Just Like Jack (NSW) as the only greyhounds to have contested national championship finals as a sprinter and a stayer.

West Australian superstar Miata defeated her nemesis Irma Bale (Victoria) in the 2012 National Distance Championship final, run over 709 metres at Hobart. This was the first West Australian victory in the event since 1998 when Paradise Street had scored at Cannington.

26
Blythe Spirit took out the 1950 660 yards Championship, defeating Shorncliffe by a length and a half. Owned and trained by Claude Fuller, Blythe Spirit took her racing record to 13 wins and 14 placings from 33 starts. Blythe Spirit completed a clean sweep of the Lismore championships, run over 350, 500, and 660 yards, a rare event.

Busy's Charm, the litter sister to , won a 750 yards event at Wollongong in 1968 by four lengths in 42.5, equalling the track record.

Sandi's Me Mum took out the 530-metres Winter Cup at Cannington in 1989.

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