Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom

Greyhound racing is a popular industry in Great Britain with attendances at around 3.2 million at over 5,750 meetings, in 2007 alone. There are 25 licensed stadiums in Britain and several independent stadiums (unaffiliated to a governing body). The industry use a Parimutuel betting tote system with on-course and off-course betting available, with a turnover of £75,100,000.[1]

English Derby Winner 2005 & 2006.

History

London, Midland and Scottish Railway poster advertising the opening of Perry Barr Greyhound Stadium in Birmingham, in April 1928.

Greyhound racing as it is seen today has evolved from a form of hunting called coursing, in which a dog runs after a live game animal – usually a rabbit or hare. The first official coursing meeting was held in 1776 at Swaffham, Norfolk. The rules of the Swaffham Coursing Society specified that only two greyhounds were to course a single hare and that the hare was to be given a head start of 240 yards.[2]

Coursing by proxy with an artificial lure was introduced at Hendon, on September 11, 1876. Six dogs raced over a 400-yard straight course, chasing an artificial hare riding. This was the first attempt of introducing mechanical racing to the UK, however it did not catch on at the time.[3]

The oval track and mechanical hare were introduced to Britain, in 1926, by American, Charles Munn, in association with Major Lyne-Dixson, a key figure in coursing. Finding other supporters proved to rather difficult however and with the General Strike of 1926 looming, the two men scoured the country in an attempt to find others who would join them. Eventually they met Brigadier-General Critchley, who in turn introduced them to Sir William Gentle.[4] Between them they raised £22,000 and launched the Greyhound Racing Association.[5] On July 24, 1926, in front of 1,700 spectators, the first greyhound race took place at Belle Vue Stadium where seven greyhounds raced round an oval circuit to catch an electric artificial hare.[6] This marked the first ever modern greyhound race in Great Britain. They then hurried to open tracks in London at the White City Stadium and Harringay Stadium.[6]

Racing

The industry of greyhound racing in Great Britain currently falls under two sectors: that registered by the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB),[7] and a sector known as 'independent racing' or 'flapping' which is racing unaffiliated to a governing body.

Registered Racing

GBGB Logo

Registered racing in Great Britain is regulated by the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB). All in the registered sector are subject to the GBGB Rules of Racing[8] and the Directions of the Stewards, who set the standards for greyhound welfare and racing integrity, from racecourse facilities and trainers' kennels to retirement of greyhounds. Stewards inquiries and then disciplinary action is taken against anyone found failing to comply.[9]

The registered sector consists of 26 racecourses, 884 trainers (as at 2012 end), 4,135 kennel staff, 867 racecourse officials, and in excess of 15,000 greyhound owners with approximately 10,000 greyhounds registered annually for racing.[10]

Independent Racing

Independent racing, also known as 'flapping', is held at seven racecourses. The number of trainers, kennelstaff, owners and greyhounds involved in independent racing is unknown because there is no requirement for central registration or licensing, and no code of practice. In England, standards for welfare or integrity are set by local government, but there is no governing or other regulatory body.

Stadiums

Registered Stadiums

There are 25 active Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) registered stadiums in the UK:[11] 24 are in England and one is in Scotland. There are no tracks in Wales and Northern Irish tracks do not come under the control of the GBGB.

Nottingham Stadium
Poole Stadium
Shawfield Stadium
Sheffield Stadium

Independent Stadiums

There are also seven active independent stadiums:

Competitions

There are many types of competitions in Britain,[12] with prize money reaching £15,737,122.[1]

Greyhound Derby

This race must have minimum prize money of £50,000. The competition has six-rounds and attracts around 180 entries each year. There are two derbys in Britain; Scottish Greyhound Derby held at Shawfield Stadium, English Greyhound Derby held at Wimbledon. With a third the Irish Greyhound Derby held at Shelbourne Park open to British greyhounds. There used to be a Welsh Greyhound Derby but the event finished in 1977 following the closure of the track at the Arms Park in Cardiff. In 2010 the Northern Irish Derby was introduced.

Category One Race

These races must have minimum prize money of £12,500. They can be run between one and four rounds but must be completed within a 15-day period, except for special circumstances. In any event the competition must be completed within 18 days.

Category Two Race

These races must have minimum prize money of £5,000. They can be run with one, two or three rounds but must be completed within a 15-day period.

Category Three Race

These races must have minimum prize money of £1,000. They can be run over one or two rounds and within a nine-day period. A category three race can be staged over one day but must have minimum prize money of £500.

Invitation Race

A special type of open race usually staged by the promoter in support on the night of other opens.This will be proposed to the committee by the Greyhound Board or by a promoter, with the racers being invited into the competition rather than the usual process. The minimum prize money for these races is £750.

Minor Open Race

This is any other open race. The minimum added money for these races is £150.

Graded Racing

This is any other race staged at a track, and prize money is varied. This kind of racing is the core of most stadiums and some of the racing can be viewed in betting shops on the Bookmakers Afternoon Greyhound Service (BAGS). The Racing Manager selects the greyhounds based on ability and organises them into traps (called seeding) and classes (usually 1-9) with grade 1 being the best class.

Racing Jacket Colours and Starting Traps

Greyhound racing in Britain has a standard colour scheme.[13] The starting traps (equipment that the greyhound starts a race in) determines the colour.

A racing jacket worn by a reserve bears an additional letter 'R' prominently on each side.

Racing Greyhounds and welfare

Treatment of Racing Greyhounds

Greyhound racing at registered stadiums in Great Britain is regulated by the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB). In Britain greyhounds are not kept at the tracks and are instead housed in the kennels of trainers and transported to the tracks to race. Licensed kennels have to fall within specific guidelines and rules[14] and are checked by officials to make sure the treatment of racing greyhounds is within the rules.[15] In 2014 the Dog’s Trust carried out an investigation into the conditions of Greyhound training kennels in the UK. In their report they stated that tracks are failing to deliver the improvements that they believe need to happen.[16] Greyhounds' health and condition are checked at the track by the track vet before they are permitted to race,[17] and drugs tests are conducted.[18]

Retirement

After the greyhounds are no longer able to race (generally, a greyhound's career will end by the age of four to six), owners may keep the dog for breeding or as pets, or they can send them to greyhound adoption groups. Euthanasia is generally a last resort, considered if no other option is viable.[19] The Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) have introduced measures to locate where racing greyhounds reside after they have retired from racing but this information is not made available to the public.[20] Not all retired greyhounds find homes and a concern among welfare groups is the well being of racing greyhounds who are not adopted upon their retirement that may be put down or sold by their owners. There are no checks made on independent racing.

The main greyhound adoption organisation in Britain is the Retired Greyhound Trust (RGT). The RGT is a charity but is partly funded by the British Greyhound Racing Fund (BGRF), who gave funding of £1,400,000 in 2015.[21] In recent years the racing industry has made significant progress in establishing programmes for the adoption of retired racers. Many race tracks have established their own adoption programmes[22] in addition to actively cooperating with private adoption groups throughout the country. There are also independent organisations which find homes for retired Greyhounds. Several independent rescue groups include Greyhound Gap, Tia Greyhound & Lurcher Rescue and Bark Inn Kennels also exist to try to ensure that as many of the dogs as possible are adopted. Independent rescue and homing groups receive no funding from the industry and rely solely on public donations.

Injuries

Due to the physical stresses of racing, many greyhounds will at some point sustain an injury.[23] Data collected by Greyt Exploitations showed that in 2013 there were 4,656 greyhounds injured on GBGB licensed tracks, 1576 had not returned from injury at the time the data was released.[24] The number of injuries is probably higher as some injuries may not be detected until the following day.

Injuries in the racing greyhound are common[25][26] because of several factors including the speed at which the dogs race, track design including the angle and banking of the bends, and the track surface.[27] Several studies have been conducted explaining the types of injury that can occur.[25][28][28][29][30][30][31][32] Most injuries, including broken hocks are treatable,[33][34][35] but greyhounds have been euthanized at tracks for these injuries, the most common reason for euthanasia was fracture of the right tarsus[36] The number of greyhounds euthanized due to an injury is not made public.

Drugs

The Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) actively work to prevent the spread of drug usage within the registered greyhound racing sector.[37] Attempts are made to recover urine samples from all greyhounds in a race, not just the winners.[18] Greyhounds from which samples can not be obtained for a certain number of consecutive races are subject to being ruled off the track. If a positive sample is found, violators are subject to penalties and loss of their racing licenses by the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB). The trainer of the greyhound is at all times the "absolute insurer" of the condition of the animal. The trainer is responsible for any positive test regardless of how the banned substance has entered the greyhound's system.[38] Due to the increased practice of random testing, the number of positive samples has decreased.[37]

Greyhound Welfare Groups in the UK

Controversy

There was a report of greyhounds being sold to research labs where cadavers were used for students to practise upon. Liverpool University Animal Training School has stated that it received the remains of dogs put down at Belle Vue Stadium in Manchester because it was essential to improving animal health and welfare.[39] Charles Pickering, a Greyhound Breeder from Lincolnshire was also exposed offering 'slow' dogs to the Liverpool school as live subjects. The Greyhound Board of Great Britain Disciplinary Committee found Pickering in breach of rules 18(i), (ii) and (iii), 152 (i) and (ii), 174(vi) and 174(xiv) (a) and (b) and ordered that he be made a Warned Off person and fined the sum of £5,000.[40][41] Greyhounds were sent to unqualified euthanization specialist, builder David Smith, in the North East of England who destroyed greyhounds with a captive bolt gun; Smith faced a fine and possible jail sentence.[42][43]

References

  1. 1 2 http://www.thedogs.co.uk/index.php?m=aid&id=347
  2. ↑ http://www.nationalcoursingclub.org/the%20past.htm
  3. ↑ "greyhound racing in Encyclopedia of Britain by Bamber Gascoigne". historyworld.net.
  4. ↑ Genders, Roy (1981). the Encyclopaedia of Greyhound Racing. Pelham Books Ltd. ISBN 0-7207-1106-1.
  5. ↑ "Greyhound Racing History". greyhoundracinghistory.co.uk.
  6. 1 2 http://www.ngrc.org.uk/our_history.asp?cat=2&page=229
  7. ↑ "We are the governing body for licensed greyhound racing". Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
  8. ↑ "Rules of Racing" (PDF). Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
  9. ↑ "Disciplinary Committee Hearings". Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
  10. ↑ "About the GBGB". Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
  11. ↑ http://www.ngrc.org.uk/find_track.asp?a=srch
  12. ↑ http://www.ngrc.org.uk/open_races.asp?cat=5&page=236/ Competitions
  13. ↑ http://www.ngrc.org.uk/rule_book.asp?rule=135&a=results
  14. ↑ "Rules of Racing" (PDF). Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
  15. ↑ http://www.ngrc.org.uk/stewards_work.asp?cat=3&page=233
  16. ↑ "The Greyhound Industry: Don't bet on fair treatment - Dogs Trust". www.dogstrust.org.uk. Retrieved 2015-09-25.
  17. ↑ http://www.ngrc.org.uk/track_vet.asp?cat=11&page=264
  18. 1 2 http://www.ngrc.org.uk/drugs_anatomy.asp?cat=3&page=232
  19. ↑ http://www.ngrc.org.uk/SiteSearch.aspx?id=243
  20. ↑ "Welfare & Retirement". Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
  21. ↑ "Retirement Funding" (PDF). British Greyhound Racing Fund Limited.
  22. ↑ http://www.retiredgreyhounds.co.uk/index.asp?pageid=43
  23. ↑ Morris, Darren (2009). Training and Racing the Greyhound.
  24. ↑ "Greyt Exploitations | Greyt Exploitations". greytexploitations-greyhound-data.com. Retrieved 2015-09-25.
  25. 1 2 Molyneux, Jacqui (2005-05-01). "Vets on track: working as a greyhound vet". In Practice. 27 (5): 277–279. doi:10.1136/inpract.27.5.277. ISSN 2042-7689.
  26. ↑ Prole, J.H (1976). "A survey of racing injuries in the Greyhound". Journal of Small Animal Practice. PMID 933469.
  27. ↑ Sicard, G.K (1999). "A survey of injuries at five greyhound racing tracks". Journal of Small Animal Practice. PMID 10516949.
  28. 1 2 Thesis: The nature, incidence and response to treatment of injuries to the distal limbs in the racing Greyhound. Guilliard M.J, 2012. Pages 2-6
  29. ↑ Usherwood, James R.; Wilson, Alan M. (2005-01-01). "Biomechanics: No force limit on greyhound sprint speed". Nature. 438 (7069). doi:10.1038/438753a.
  30. 1 2 Johnson, K.A; Muir, P; Nicoll, R.G; Roush, J.K (2000-01-01). "Asymmetric adaptive modeling of central tarsal bones in racing greyhounds". Bone. 27 (2). doi:10.1016/s8756-3282(00)00313-6.
  31. ↑ Thesis: Specialisation for fast locomotion:performance, cost and risk. Hercock, C.A 2010
  32. ↑ Tomlin, J. L.; Lawes, T. J.; Blunn, G. W.; Goodship, A. E.; Muir, Peter (2014-03-13). "Fractographic Examination of Racing Greyhound Central (Navicular) Tarsal Bone Failure Surfaces Using Scanning Electron Microscopy". Calcified Tissue International. 67 (3): 260–266. doi:10.1007/s002230001129. ISSN 0171-967X.
  33. ↑ Boudrieau, RJ (1984). "Central tarsal bone fractures in the racing Greyhound: a review of 114 cases". Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. PMID 6735872.
  34. ↑ Guilliard, M. J. (2010-12-01). "Third tarsal bone fractures in the greyhound". Journal of Small Animal Practice. 51 (12): 635–641. doi:10.1111/j.1748-5827.2010.01004.x. ISSN 1748-5827.
  35. ↑ Johnson, KA (1989). "Screw fixation of accessory carpal fractures in racing greyhounds: 12 cases (1981-1986)". Journal of the American Veterinary Medicine Association. PMID 2753786.
  36. ↑ Thesis: Specialisation for fast locomotion:performance, cost and risk. Hercock, C.A. 2010 page 16-17
  37. 1 2 http://www.ngrc.org.uk/policing_racing.asp?cat=3&page=231
  38. ↑ http://www.ngrc.org.uk/inq_explained.asp?cat=6&page=241
  39. ↑ Qureshi, Yakub (27 April 2010). "30 Injured Grehounds Put Down at Dog Track". Manchester Evening News. Manchester. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  40. ↑ "Greyhound breeder offers slow dogs to be killed for research - The Sunday Times". Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  41. ↑ Jeory, Ted (30 May 2010). "Agony of Caged Greyhounds". Daily Express. London. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  42. ↑ Foggo, Daniel (16 July 2006). "Killing field of the dog racing industry - The Sunday Times". Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  43. ↑ "Greyhound killer to face tougher sentence". The Guardian. 16 February 2007.

Further reading

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.