The Crayford legend that is Newlawn Sweep has run his last competitive race at the track after owner Peter Claxson announced the dog’s retirement on his eighth birthday.

Sweep went to the traps for the final time on last Saturday morning’s card and came home in third place.

It was an emotional affair, given that this dog is everyone’s favourite. Plans are now in hand to have a celebration night for Sweep when he will return to receive his award from the track as the all-time race record holder.

This was the dog’s 271st race in a career which began at the track on March 26, 2007 in
low-grade A7 over 380m.

By July he had risen to A2 level and it was clear he was the type of greyhound that could not trap out quickly but was a strong finisher.

His trainer, Patsy Cusack, switched the dog to 540m after a scintillating trial which saw Sweep going straight into top grade S1. By November 2007, he was running over both 714 and 874m and competed in the top race, the Ladbrokes Golden Jacket, at the height of his career when he was eliminated in the 2009 semi-finals.

I doubt whether we will ever see another dog at Crayford to match Sweep’s unbelievable record of 271 competitive races which have included 51 wins.

To put things into perspective, there has been a greyhound track in Crayford since 1937 and I estimate the number of greyhounds that have raced here would be somewhere in the 15,000-20,000 range. This dog has run more races here than any other!

I recently asked the Greyhound Board of Great Britain to ask the question on their website as to whether anyone knew of any other dog at any track at any time that had managed 50 graded race wins. We had no-one come forward so it could be Sweep’s record is unique.

The track now plan to have a photo taken of Sweep wearing his special presentation jacket which will be mounted at the track with full details of all of his races here.

I will let you know of the special night here to mark those achievements and encourage you to come and see the living legend that is Newlawn Sweep.