Rochester Stadium
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Rochester Stadium was a
greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around an oval track. The sport originates from Hare coursing, coursing. Track racing uses an artificial lure (usually a form of windsock) that travels ahead of th ...
stadium in Rochester,
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
.


Origins

The stadium was constructed in a rural area of Kent right next to a large wood called Warren Wood. A relatively new main road had also been built called the City Way and this led directly past the stadium on its east side.


Opening

The stadium was known as the Rochester and Chatham Sports Stadium when it first hosted greyhound racing on 1 June 1936. When it opened it in 1936 it became the 55th
National Greyhound Racing Club The National Greyhound Racing Club was an organisation that governed Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom Greyhound racing is a sport in the United Kingdom. The industry uses a parimutuel betting tote system with on-course and off-course be ...
licensed track that year. It had a course circumference of 455 yards and was described as a good sized course with long straights but fairly difficult turns proving difficult for wide runners but with a good run-in to the finish. There was an 'Outside Sumner' hare system and race distances of 275, 525, 480 and 700 yards. Amenities provided by Greater London Stadium (Successors) Ltd included two grandstands (one on the home straight that included a club and another on the back straight), a snack bar on the fourth bend, a stand on the first bend and a tote indicator between the third and fourth bends.


History

A greyhound called Safe Rock won the prestigious
Pall Mall Stakes The Pall Mall Stakes is a prestigious Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom, greyhound racing competition held at Oxford Stadium. The event is classified as a category one race. History The competition was run at Harringay Stadium from 193 ...
for new Rochester trainer Fred Wilson in 1936. Racing still took place during the
war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
years in the summer daylight hours and in 1943 Ballyhennessy Seal won the 18th Rochester Stakes, his first race in England. In the same year Margaret Hyland became one of the few female trainers to hold a trainers licence and joined the Rochester training ranks. The stadium was one of the smaller tracks especially for one so close to London but business was profitable and the
totalisator A tote board (or totalisator/totalizator) is a numeric or alphanumeric display used to convey information, typically at a race track (to display the odds or payoffs for each horse) or at a telethon (to display the total amount donated to the char ...
turnover peaked in 1946 at £1,282,828. In 1960 a kennel block at the stadium suffered a terrible fire, which resulted in the death of 24 greyhounds trained by Reg Morley. Morley and his head lad Mr Morton attempted to rescue them and both suffered injuries. Morley was brought out unconscious. In 1978
John McCririck John Michael McCririck (17 April 1940 – 5 July 2019) was an English horse racing pundit, television personality and journalist. McCririck began his career at '' The Sporting Life'', where he twice won at the British Press Awards for his camp ...
a '' Sporting Life'' journalist took the lead in covering a Rochester greyhound coup that ended in a legal battle and it was not until 1985 that a judge agreed that bookmakers were not liable to pay out on the case.


Speedway

There were speedway racing trials in 1932, and many years later in 1969 when the Rochester Bombers wanted to use the stadium as their home venue.


Closure

In 1979 the stadium closed with little warning after the site had been sold to developers. After racing on 4 October rumours had surfaced regarding a sale, Racing Manager Kevin Barry attempted to get information from one of the directors Michael Rice and company secretary Mrs Webber without success. On Friday 5 October he was told that the company's shares had been sold and a twelve-month contract of greyhound racing had been signed. Then without warning on the Monday 8 October morning he was informed that racing had finished with immediate effect because the site had been sold to developers. The shock closure tarnished the reputation of the company chairman Con Stevens (a major name within the industry) due to the fact that he had not given any notice to the staff and trainers.


Track records


References

{{Motorcycle speedway tracks Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Sports venues completed in 1936 Defunct speedway venues in England