Mick the Miller

Mick the Miller (29 June 1926 – 6 May 1939) was a male brindle greyhound. He is celebrated as the first great racing greyhound to compete in England (although he was born in Ireland). Despite a short three-year racing career, his achievements were highly publicised around the world and by the end of his career he had become an icon in the sport. His achievements include winning nineteen races in a row, including the English Greyhound Derby on two successive occasions. He suffered an injury at Wimbledon Stadium whilst racing which broke the streak in 1931, and once recovered was beaten in the attempt to win a third Derby title. He went on to appear in films, and is still considered one of the greatest sporting heroes in the UK.

Early life

Mick, a male brindle Greyhound, was born in Killeigh, County Offaly, Ireland before the introduction of Greyhound track racing in Ireland, and before the sport became popular in Britain.

A Catholic priest, Father Martin Brophy, brought Mick to race in England, although nearly sold the dog as a puppy to another priest, Father Maurice Browne. Although the Catholic Church in Ireland had no issues with Greyhound racing, the Catholic Church in Great Britain at the time was against it, having published a pamphlet entitled Dog Racing which called it a "threat to Sunday dinners", and described gambling that "the distribution of losses and dividends had an anti-social character because the poorest, the most unhappy, the physically and emotionally handicapped, are made to pay for the professionals and semi-professionals who get hold of intimate knowledge." He raced five times during 1928, winning four times and equalled the 500 metres world record after recording 28.80 at Shelbourne.

1929

He reached the Easter Cup final at Shelbourne and won the Spring Cup final at Harold's Cross Stadium and National Cup final at Shelbourne before travelling to England for the first time. he finished runner-up in the London Cup final on 26 November. He finished 1929 with a record of 26 wins from 32 races. His run extended nineteen successive victories before he tore a shoulder muscle in a race at Wimbledon Stadium. During the run, he broke world records on four occasions and newspaper editors stopped using the headline of "Wonder Dog", instead replacing it with simply "Invincible". In qualifying for the final of that race, he beat Seldom Lad on three occasions. and was the most expensive dog advertised at stud demanding 50 guineas. He was a special guest at the opening of Catford Stadium on 30 July 1932. He appeared with Flanagan and Allen in the 1934 movie Wild Boy. Although the Evening News predicted that it would be "one of the most popular British films of the year", no box office records were kept and the only known copy is in the possession of the British Film Institute. having amassed around £20,000 in stud fees, from appearances in films, and in prize money. After his death he was stuffed and given by his last owner, A.H. Kempton, to the Natural History Museum in London; he has since been moved to the Natural History Museum at Tring in Hertfordshire. He stands in cabinet 58 of the household dogs section at the museum in an airtight case filled with an insecticide called Vapona in order to prevent any damage by insects. An enclosure was named after Mick at Wimbledon Stadium. Mick remained the only dog to win two Derby titles until 1973, when Patricias Hope won his second title. Royal Doulton produced a limited edition run of Mick the Miller figurines in the 1990s.

In 2007, journalist Jon Henderson drew up his list of 100 top British sportsmen for his book Best of British: Hendo's Sporting Heroes. Mick the Miller was included in the list as the only Greyhound, with the only other animal being multi–time Grand National winner Red Rum. He is still referred to as the world's most famous Greyhound,

Full race record

Mick The Miller ran a total of 81 races of which he won 61: 15 wins from 20 in Ireland and 46 wins from 61 in England.

|5 July||Cesarewitch 2nd Rd ||600|| West Ham ||1 ||1st ||34.09||1-8f||5

|9 July||Cesarewitch semi final ||600||West Ham ||3 ||1st ||34.01 ||1-10f||7||National record

|12 July||Cesarewitch final ||600|| West Ham ||2 ||1st ||34.11||1-7f||3||£1,000 prize

|29 July||Welsh Derby 1st Rd ||525|| Welsh White City ||2 ||1st ||29.90||1-5f||12||

|2 Aug||Welsh Derby semi final ||525|| Welsh White City||4 ||1st ||29.60||1-8f||8||National record

|9 Aug||Welsh Derby final ||525|| Welsh White City ||2 ||1st ||29.55||1-8f||10|| National & track record

|20 Aug||Match v Faithful Kitty ||550|| Wimbledon ||2 ||1st ||32.29||1-3f||½||

|23 Aug||Laurels 1st Rd ||500|| Wimbledon ||5 ||6th ||29.37||1-6f|| ||finished injured

1931

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

!width=100|Date

!width=270|Race

!width=80|Yards

!width=150|Venue

!width=50|Trap

!width=50|Pos

!width=100|Win time

!width=80|SP

!width=80|Distance <br>(lengths)

!width=200|Notes

|16 Mar||Spring Cup 1st Rd ||525|| Wembley ||4 ||1st ||30.44||1-2f||4||

|18 Mar||Spring Cup semi final ||525|| Wembley ||4 ||1st ||30.34||4-9f||3||

|23 Mar||Spring Cup final ||525|| Wembley ||4 ||1st ||30.04||1-3f||2 ½||Track record

|16 May||Open Race ||525|| White City ||1 ||1st ||30.51||1-3f ||2 ||

|23 May||Open Race ||550|| West Ham ||5 ||3rd ||32.06||1-3f || 2 ½||winner - Passing Fair

|6 June||Match v Doumergue ||525|| White City ||4 ||1st ||30.10||8-13f||Shd||

|13 June|| Derby 1st round ||525|| White City ||2 ||2nd||30.66||2-7f||1 ½||

|16 June|| Derby 2nd round ||525|| White City ||3 ||2nd||29.69||7-4||5||

|20 June|| Derby semi final ||525|| White City ||6 ||2nd||30.20||2-1||½||

|27 June|| Derby final ||525|| White City ||6 ||4th+ ||30.40||1-1f||6||+Re-Run

|4 July||Cesarewitch 1st Rd||600|| West Ham ||5 ||1st ||34.51||6-4f ||head||

|11 July||Cesarewitch semi final||600|| West Ham ||2 ||3rd ||34.72||1-3f||2 ½||

|18 July||Cesarewitch final||600|| West Ham ||3 ||2nd ||34.03||5-2||5||

|25 July|| Welsh Derby 1st Rd||525|| Welsh White City||4||5th ||30.72|| ||dis||fell

|8 Aug||Match v Maidens Boy|| 550|| Perry Barr ||4 ||1st ||32.20||4-6f||6||

|15 Aug||Match v Altamatzin|| 525|| Welsh White City ||1 ||2nd ||29.69|| ||head||

|14 Sep||St Leger 1st Rd|| 700|| Wembley ||4 ||1st ||41.40||2-5f||7||

|19 Sep||Match v Ross Regatta|| 525|| Perry Barr ||2 ||2nd ||30.19|| ||2||

|21 Sep||St Leger 2nd Rd|| 700|| Wembley ||3 ||1st ||40.85||6-1||head||

|26 Sep||St Leger semi final|| 700|| Wembley ||1 ||1st ||40.86||7-4||3||

|3 Oct||St Leger final|| 700|| Wembley ||3 ||1st ||41.31||1-1f||head||£700 prize

Pedigree

References

External links

Mick The Miller Commemoration Committee
Meet "Mick the Miller", 1931 British Pathé Film Reel