Guys and Dolls (greyhounds)

The Guys and Dolls is a greyhound racing competition held annually at Crayford Stadium.^[1]

Guys and Dolls

Category 2 race
1978 champion Paradise Spectre
Location	Crayford Stadium
Inaugurated	1977
Sponsor	Ladbrokes
Race information
Distance	380 metres
Surface	Sand
Qualification	Dogs and bitches in separate heats
Purse	£5,000 (winner)

The competition was inaugurated at Harringay Stadium and was unusual in the fact that the heats consisted of separate races for bitches and dogs with heat winners qualifying for the mixed final.^[2][3] The event was historically sponsored by bookmakers and featured as a major televised race for the betting shops. It switched to Wmebley from Harringay in 1983, to Powderhall Stadium in 1987 and then Crayford until 2008 before being discontinued. In 2015 the race was brought back alongside the Gold Collar.^[4]

The event was held at sister track Romford Greyhound Stadium in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[5]

Venues & Distances

• 1977–1982 (Harringay, 660 metres)
• 1983–1984 (Wembley, 490 metres)
• 1987–1987 (Powderhall, 465 metres)
• 1990–2019 (Crayford, 380 metres)
• 2020–2020 (Romford, 400 metres)
• 2021–present (Crayford, 380 metres)

Sponsors

• 1977–1984 (Ladbrokes)
• 1987–1987 (William Hill)
• 1990–1993 (Ladbrokes)
• 1994–1995 (Bass Brewery)
• 2002–2005 (Countrywide Steel and Tubes)
• 2006–2006 (Platform Building Materials)
• 2007–2024 (Ladbrokes)

Past winners

Year	Winner	Breeding	Trainer	Time	SP	Notes/ref
1977	Glen Robin	Monalee Champion – Fit Me In	Randy Singleton (White City - London)	41.62	11/10f
1978	Paradise Spectre	Spectre II – Paradise Wonder	Pat Mullins (Private)	40.85
1979	Palestine Pride	Sole Aim – Palestine Miss	Bertie Gaynor (Perry Barr)		4/1	[6]
1980	Decoy Duke	Westmead County – Rip Madam	Joe Cobbold (Private)		4/1	[7]
1981	Candlemaker	Dempsey Duke – Perfect Rhythm	Gunner Smith (Brighton)	40.78	13/8	[8]
1982	Westmead Badger	Wired to Moon – Westmead Satin	Natalie Savva (Cambridge)	40.48	9/4
1983	Athlacca Glitter	Prince of Gold – Athlacca Speech			16/1	[9]
1984	Ebony Tim	Brush Tim – Marys Princess	Grace Peppercorn (Private)	29.47	4/5f	[10]
1985–1986, not held
1987	Rashane Glory	Brief Candle – Rashane Star	Hugh Davies (Powderhall)	28.53	4/1	[11]
1988–1989, not held
1990	Clonlusk Villa	Storm Villa – Clonluck Dell	Hazel Dickson (Wembley)	23.56	6/4f
1991	Gloun Pride	Hurry On Bran – Glour Eden	George Lang (Crayford)	23.87	20/1	[12]
1992	Noisey Croppy	Double Bill – Drive On Lucky			2/1f	[13]
1993	Kind of Magic	Kilshannig Sonny – Daisys Queen	Litzi Miller (Oxford)	23.71	11/10jf	[14]
1994	Gun Fighter	I'm Slippy – Strange Manner	Bill Masters (Hove)	23.46	8/1	[15]
1995	Reckless Champ	Leaders Minstrel – Movealong Una	Lorraine Sams (Rye House)	23.73	9/4f
1996	Clean Paws	Arrow House – Must’nt Grumble	Lorraine King (Peterborough)	23.57	9/2
1997	Corpo Election	Tapwatcher – No Thanks	Macmorough Mulkerrin (Private)	23.76	7/2
1998	Wildbriar Hare	Slaneyside Hare – Gold Blossom	Terry Dartnall (Reading)	23.71	11/4
1999	Chief Wigam	Murlens Hawk – Emmjay	Chris Duggan (Walthamstow)	23.84	9/2
2000	Haut Brion	Boyne Walk – Still Seeker	Peter Rich (Romford)	23.79	2/1f
2001	Lavender Prince	Come on Ranger – Droopys Juliet	Linda Jones (Walthamstow)	23.65	5/1
2002	Knockeevan Hollie	Knockeevan Star – Knockeevan Lucy	Paul Young (Romford)	23.22	5/4f
2003	Kingdom Club	Come on Ranger – Queen Nikita	Patsy Cusack (Crayford)	23.01	5/1	Track record
2004	Shes Our Star	Knockeevan Star – Shadow Flash	Paul Young (Romford)	23.17	9/4jf
2005	Thank You Madam	Roanokee – Churchtown Spice	Graham Brabon (Sittingbourne)	23.38	11/4
2006	Letmekissya	Deenside Dean - Letmeinga	John Davidson (Crayford)	23.47	6/4f
2007	Horseshoe Ping	Top Honcho – Lucy May	Jim Reynolds (Romford)	23.14	1/1f
2008	Me Buddy	Ballymac Maeve – Ballymac Peg	Matt Dartnall (Private)	23.26	4/6f
2009–2014, not held
2015	Headford Joe	Lughill Jo – Teddy Hoe	Katie O'Flaherty (Crayford)	23.13	9/4	[16]
2016	Brick Mansions	Godsend – Castlebride Jane	Katie O'Flaherty (Crayford)	23.22	4/1	[17]
2017	Pure Placere	Superior Product – Pure Perception	Arun Green (Crayford)	23.09	3/1cf	[18]
2018	Kilmore Lemon	Taylors Sky – Lemon Lucy	Patrick Janssens (Towcester)	22.89	1/2f	[19]
2019	Skip Mayo	Makeshift – Boynepark Brae	Gemma Davidson (Central Park)	23.11	20/1	[20]
2020	Melodys Secret	Laughil Blake – Melodys Diamond	Spencer Mavrias (Harlow)	24.32	11/1	[5]
2021	Punk Rock Doll	Pat C Sabbath – Highview Jayne	Stuart Maplesden (Hove)	23.00	4/1	[21]
2022	Icaals Rocco	Pat C Sabbath – Quivers Duchess	John Mullins (Towcester)	23.16	3/1	[22]
2023	Swift Daisy	Broadstrand Bono – Swift Cigarette	Jean Liles (Romford)	23.18	7/2	[23]
2024	Mini Eva	Ballymac Bolger – Rappers Molly	David Lee (Crayford)	23.06	5/2f	[24]

References

1. Hobbs, Jonathan (2007). Greyhound Annual 2008. Raceform. p. 135. ISBN 978-1-905153-53-4.
2. Barnes/Sellers, Julia/John (1992). Ladbrokes Greyhound Fact File. Ringpress Books. p. 57. ISBN 0-948955-22-8.
3. "Even Up 7-1 for Mildmay". Daily Mirror. 7 January 1977. Retrieved 21 May 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
4. "Crayford wait on clearance to bring back the Gold Collar". Greyhound Star. 30 March 2015.
5. "2020 Guys and Dolls final". Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
6. "Team votes to call off the match". Sports Argus. 6 January 1979. Retrieved 21 May 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "A four-timer as Mercury lands Trial". Daily Mirror. 7 January 1980. Retrieved 18 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
8. "Gilt tail collared". Daily Mirror. 12 January 1981. Retrieved 18 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
9. "Wembley afternoon greyhounds". Daily Mirror. 5 February 1983. Retrieved 18 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
10. "Tim roars in". Daily Mirror. 13 February 1984. Retrieved 18 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
11. "Picture feature". Edinburgh Evening News. 23 January 1987. Retrieved 18 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
12. "Greyhound results". Sunday Mirror. 28 July 1991. Retrieved 18 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
13. "Greyhound results". Sunday Mirror. 26 July 1992. Retrieved 18 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
14. "Greyhound results". Sunday Mirror. 25 July 1993. Retrieved 18 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
15. Fry, Paul (1995). The Official NGRC Greyhound Racing Yearbook. Ringpress Books. pp. 112–114. ISBN 186054-010-4.
16. "2015 Result". Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
17. "2016 Result". Greyhound Board of Great Britain. Archived from the original on 6 October 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
18. "2017 Result". Greyhound Board of Great Britain. Archived from the original on 27 September 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
19. "Kilmore Lemon runs away with Guys & Dolls". Racing Post.
20. "2019 Guys and Dolls final". Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
21. "Crayford race meeting". Greyhound Board of Great Britain. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
22. "Crayford, Saturday 21 May". Greyhound Board of Great Britain. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
23. "Ladbrokes meeting". Greyhound Board of Great Britain. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
24. "Ladbrokes Guys and Dolls". Greyhound Board of Great Britain. Retrieved 19 August 2024.