Rushton Mac was a racing greyhound during the 1950s. He won the 1955 English Greyhound Derby and was the 1955 Greyhound of the Year.

Early life

He was whelped in June 1952 and the litter included a greyhound called Rushton Sport. His sire was Rushton News, owned and trained by Frank Johnson and Johnson with his wife Mary also owned the new litter. The litter were trained out of Boothouse Farm, on The Hall Lane, in

Rushton, Cheshire 200px, Map of civil parish of Rushton within the former borough of Vale Royal Rushton is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, in the north west of England, app ...

Racing career

1953

The pair soon made their mark as puppies when both reached the Yorkshire Puppy Derby final at

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

on 7 November.

1954

Rushton Mac won the

St Mungo Cup The St Mungo Cup was a greyhound competition held at Shawfield Stadium in Glasgow. It was inaugurated in 1927 at Carntyne Stadium and established itself as one of the leading events in Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingd ...

Carntyne Stadium Carntyne Stadium was a multi-sports stadium situated in the Carntyne area of Glasgow, Scotland, used mainly for Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom, greyhound racing and Motorcycle speedway, speedway. Origins and opening The Carntyne Grey ...

before winning the Northumberland Stakes and then heading for an attempt at the

Scottish Greyhound Derby The Scottish Greyhound Derby was an original classic greyhound competition held from 1928 to 2019, at Carntyne Stadium and then Shawfield Stadium. History The competition was introduced at Carntyne Stadium in 1928. It was held until 1968 at ...

along with his brother Rushton Spot. The pair reached the final and on 9 October, where Mac defeated Spot as they secured the first two places in the competition. The pair then reached the Midland Flat,

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...

and

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

finals (all won by Rushton Spot). Rushton Mac made amends for three defeats by his brother by winning the Edinburgh Cup, Northern Flat, Select Stakes and

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 ...

to complete a remarkable year. The only negative during the year was a doping incident at White City, when during the Challenge Stakes the pair ran unusually badly and it transpired that they had been given a

barbiturate Barbiturates are a class of depressant, depressant drugs that are chemically derived from barbituric acid. They are effective when used medication, medically as anxiolytics, hypnotics, and anticonvulsants, but have physical and psychological a ...

. Johnson offered a reward for information leading to the arrest of the guilty parties.

1955

Rushton Mac became the leading greyhound in the country during 1955 after winning the 1955 English Greyhound Derby. In addition to the English Derby success he won a second Edinburgh Cup and Northern Flat and reached the finals of the

Walthamstow Stadium Walthamstow Stadium was a Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom, greyhound racing track in the London Borough of Waltham Forest in east London.BBC News - Walthamstow race track to close' It was regarded as the leading greyhound racing stadium ...

and

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Wimbledon Stadium Wimbledon Stadium, also known as Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium, was a greyhound racing track located in Wimbledon in southwest London, England. It also hosted stock car and other small circuit motor racing events, and until 2005 hosted motorc ...

. He also won the

Welsh Greyhound Derby The Welsh Greyhound Derby was a former classic greyhound competition held in Wales. History The competition was held at the White City Stadium, Cardiff, White City Stadium in Cardiff from 1928 to 1937. The competition was sometimes run as a ...

but was denied a chance to win the Triple Crown after the Scottish Greyhound Derby was cancelled. He would have been only the second greyhound to have won the Triple Crown after Trev's Perfection. He did however hold all three Derby titles but not in the same year because he had won the Scottish Derby in 1954.

1956

He retired in 1956 after an unsuccessful attempt to defend his

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

title where he cramped during the opening round. During his career he had earned over £8,000 in prize money, had produced a winning sequence of 14 races at one stage and set new track records at Brough Park, Arms Park,

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

and

Powderhall Powderhall is an area lying between Broughton Road and Warriston Road in the north of Edinburgh, the Scottish capital. Until recently it was best known for Powderhall Stadium, a greyhound racing track, which has now closed. The stadium also p ...

Pedigree

References

{{Reflist Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom Racing greyhounds 1952 animal births