Pony Racing's richest Prize
Northolt held the
PTC Derby
which was run in late May or June usually just before the
Epsom Derby
meeting. By 1933 the PTC Derby was heavily promoted, boasting a first prize of £250, and in 1935 first place won a magnificent £1,050. The winners of subsequent Derbys won similar amounts for the rest of the decade.
BBC dispute with Epsom
The
Epsom Derby was first broadcast on radio in 1931. Thereafter BBC coverage became an annual event, but in 1938 the Epsom authorities withdrew permission from the BBC to televise the race, probably fearing people would stay away.
Leonard Jayne
writes that, on reading the news in the
Daily Mail,
he telephoned
Lt.Commander Tommy Woodrooff
at the BBC and suggested the PTC Derby at NP as an alternative. The offer was quickly taken up and was enough to force a change of mind at Epsom.
The BBC Broadcast
In the end, both Derbys were broadcast, the Northolt Derby becoming probably only the second horse race to be televised in Great Britain. The picture shows the entertainer George Robey being introduced to viewers before the race by BBC announcer Jasmine Bligh. Freddy Grisewood, later a distinguished radio broacaster, is just visible to the right of the picture. Much of the early outside broadcast equipment was improvised, with the microphone lashed to a long bamboo pole. The BBC commentary on the race was carried from the roof of the
Tote Stand
- the highest flat point on the course - with
Leonard Jayne
commentating.
The Race - A Betting Record
The dispute had been widely publicised in the press and coupled with brilliant weather, Northolt attracted some of the largest crowds ever seen at the racecourse. Northolt Derby Day was a fine prelude to Ascot. The favourite,
Crumb
was a surprise non-runner and this caused an upheaval in the market. There was heavy wagering throughout and it is open to question whether so much money had ever before been bet at Northolt. The race was won by Flying Jib, ridden by T R Griffiths, owned by Colonel Sir P Carlebach and trained by Monty Smyth at Epsom. Page top
Postscript
The BBC returned to Northolt on 5th September for the British Empire Cup, but the outside broadcast was a technical and presentational fiasco. A BBC internal memo after the event asserted:
"...it would be better never to go to Northolt again than to risk a repeat of a broadcast such as this."
They never did.
|
