West Ham Stadium

Plans for a very large stadium in a rural area near Plaistow Marsh, east of Canning Town were unveiled in the late 1920s and work began on the structure where an old sports ground (built in 1855) was situated that had belonged to the workers of the custom house of Royal Victoria Dock.[3]

The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch,[4] responsible for most of the major football stadia at the time including Goodison Park and Highbury. There was a large two tier stand accommodating 80,000 spectators with a smaller stand able to hold a further 20,000 bringing the capacity for the stadium up to 100,000.[5] The track was the largest in Great Britain with a circumference of 562 yards and 123-yard straights. The standard trip of 550 yards did not even require a greyhound to complete a full lap. The track was lit by 70 x 750 watt lamps and used a special monorail train weighing 500lbs to carry the hare. There was also a very unusual design regarding the track surface which used turf laid on a wooden foundation which had been raised twelve inches above ground level which would consequently result in a very fast track. It was described as a well-sprung dance floor matted with a special fibrous substance.[5]

The kennels consisted of six ranges totalling over 200 kennels within the two acres of the stadium grounds.[5]

The first meeting took place on 4 August 1928. The stadium management brought in a race called the Cesarewitch which gained classic status; the race started over the distance of 600 yards but become a competition for marathon greyhounds.[6]

Early successful trainers were Ken Appleton and Stan Biss, both of whom had owned greyhounds on Wembley's opening night and subsequently taken out trainers licences at Wimbledon Stadium before joining West Ham. Biss trained a famous bitch called Bradshaw Fold when she finished runner up to Mick the Miller in the 1930 English Greyhound Derby.[7] Two weeks later Mick the Miller won the Cesarewitch winning by seven lengths in his heat and on the same day winning the first prize of £200 in the final.[8]

West Ham won the Derby in 1931 with the Wally Green trained Seldom Led and one year later Future Cutlet recorded a second successive Cesarewitch victory setting a new world record of 33.78 sec in his semi-final. In 1936 the track introduced the Cambridgeshire which would stand as the tracks second major competition. One year later in 1937 the track opened a veterinary hospital on site.[9] The Second World War forced the racing to be suspended on more than one occasion and the Canning Town area suffered terrible bombing damage due to the fact that the docks were seen as a primary target. The stadium was lucky to miss the destruction that many buildings suffered in the immediate area but there were continual closures until 1946. The West Ham operation was largely moved to Dagenham Greyhound Stadium from March 1944 until 1946.[10]

West Ham trainer Kenric Appleton

Due to war closures West Ham lost the services of Stanley Biss who did not return deciding to stay at Clapton Stadium. This left Ken Appleton, Johnny Bullock and Dal Hawkesley as the main trainers. Director of Racing was Captain W J Neilson and the Racing Manager was A W H Watson. Ken Appleton died in 1960 and his kennels were taken over by his son Kenric 'Ken' Appleton Jr. In addition Tom Johnston senior retired in 1962 and his son Tom Johnston Jr. took over his range at West Ham and achieved great success becoming Greyhound Trainer of the Year in 1963.[11]

In 1966 the Greyhound Racing Association (GRA) bought an interest in the West Ham site and two years later Stamford Bridge trainer Sid Mann switched his runners to West Ham following the closure of the track. During the same year the GRA decided to move all of the greyhounds out of the Clapton and West Ham kennels and put them in their renowned training establishment at Hook Estate and Kennels in Northaw. The Northaw kennels would now house all trainers from Harringay Stadium, White City Stadium, Clapton and West Ham which brought the estate under considerable pressure. This sale of the West Ham and Clapton kennels brought unease with concerns over the stadia themselves.[11]

Dal Hawkesley retired in 1966 replaced by his son Peter who was training in his own right at Romford who in turn moved to Harringay replaced by Wilf France. Hawkesleys head kennelhand Ted Parker and Colin West were also appointed by West Ham.[11]

Sherrys Prince one of the great hurdlers was trained by West ham trainers during his first two Grand National wins in 1970 and 1971; they were John Shevlin and Colin West respectively.[12]