Yellow Printer
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Yellow Printer was a famous racing greyhound during the late 1960s. He is regarded as being one of the fastest racing greyhounds in history and won Ireland's ultimate prize, the
Irish Greyhound Derby The Irish Greyhound Derby held at Shelbourne Park, is the premier Greyhound racing in Ireland, greyhound racing competition in Ireland. First held at Harold's Cross Stadium, Harold's Cross in 1928, the event was unofficial until 1932 and called ...
, in addition to being voted the 1968 UK Greyhound of the Year.


Mating and rearing

He was whelped in March 1966, from a mating between Printer's Prince and Yellow Streak.


Racing


1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

After losing in the final of the Ulster St Leger Paddy Keane paid a four figure sum to buy Yellow Printer. He was later bought by Miss Pauline Wallis (a night club proprietor) and Sir Robert Adeane and placed with trainer John Bassett at Clapton.


1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

After competing in the Easter Cup at
Shelbourne Park Shelbourne Park is a greyhound racing stadium in the south Dublin inner city suburb of Ringsend. Greyhound Racing Opening The plans to open a greyhound track in Dublin were drawn up by Paddy O’Donoghue, Jerry Collins, Patsy McAlinden and J ...
, he won the Wood Lane Stakes at White City. Then on 3 June 1968 he recorded a new Word Record of 28.30 seconds for 525 yards, during the 1968 English Greyhound Derby qualifying heats at White City. This led him to starting the main event as the shortest ante-post favorite of all time at 6–4. After a bunched first round race he qualified in third place and betting was suspended while he received a veterinary check. He passed the check but a few days later was knocked over in the second round and was eliminated from the competition. After winning the Wembley Summer Cup, he traveled to Ireland with John Bassett and was housed at Gay McKenna's kennels in
Cabinteely Cabinteely () is a suburb of Dublin's southside. It is in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, County Dublin, Ireland. The population of all electoral divisions labelled as Cabinteely was 15,864 as of the 2022 census. Geography Cabinteely lies around t ...
in preparation for the 1968 Irish Greyhound Derby. On 20 July, he became the first greyhound to break 29 seconds over 525 yards at Shelbourne Park, when he won by nine lengths and clocked 28.83 in a first round victory. He went on to win the final in 29.11, the fastest ever final win at the time. On his return to England the greyhound was placed in the care of trainer Paddy Milligan by his owners because they had been upset by the decision of the
Greyhound Racing Association The Greyhound Racing Association was a UK-based private company founded in 1925 and existed until 2019. It was involved in the management of sports venues, notably greyhound racing stadia. The GRA was responsible for introducing Greyhound racing ...
to move the Clapton trainers (of which Bassett was one) from Claverhambury Farm into the Hook Estate and Kennels. In the
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 ...
at
Harringay Stadium Harringay Stadium was a major greyhound racing and motorcycle speedway venue in Harringay, north London. It was built and opened in 1927 and closed in 1987. Construction Harringay Stadium was the third greyhound racing stadium to open in Br ...
during November, he won his heat in 28.71 (a new track record), which he lowered to 28.60 in the semi-final but lost the final to Local Motive, who he had beaten in the semi. He represented England in the International at Limerick on 30 November but was beaten by Flaming King trained by Tony Quigley. Yellow Printer's owner Pauline Wallis reacted by buying Flaming King for £5,000 from Frank Moran and taking him back to England. Yellow Printer was voted 1968 Greyhound of the Year.


1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

Yellow Printer won the Sir Billy Butlin Stakes at White City, recording the second fastest ever time there in 28.38 seconds. He made a second attempt at the English Derby but despite being ante-post favourite again was knocked out of the event in round two. The heat contained Sand Star (the eventual winner), Kilbelin Style (the runner-up) and Pallas Joy (who 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 ...
) the following month. He was then retired to stud in Ireland. After only a short period at stud in Ireland he became an influential sire in the United States, after joining his owner Pauline O'Donnell (née Wallis) there.


Legacy

Many consider Yellow Printer to be the fastest dog ever to raced but he was not suited to the bends of greyhound tracks. Yellow Printer spent his later years as a pet in the O'Donnell household where he lived until he died in 1978, aged 12.


Pedigree


References

{{Reflist Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom Racing greyhounds 1966 animal births 1978 animal deaths