GREYHOUND RACING. Greyhound racing was first in troduced as an artificial form of the old-time sport of coursing, but it has nothing in common with it except that the same sort of dog is used for both. In racing, a dummy hare, propelled me chanically round a set track, is used as a quarry, which the dogs never catch—except by accident.
Greyhound racing first attained promi nence in the United States of America after the World War, but there is evidence that it had its inception in England. There are on record particulars of a meeting which took place in a field near the Welsh Harp, Hendon, in 1876, for the purpose of demon strating a form of greyhound racing almost exactly similar in principle to the modern form. The dogs were raced after an artificial hare which was drawn, by means of a windlass, along a rail laid in the grass over a straight track of 40o yards. But the innovation received insufficient encouragement to keep it alive. It seems that public ideas of sport at that time were not satisfied by the mere racing of greyhounds, for when a year or two later enclosed coursing was introduced the objection was raised that it was more like racing than coursing, and it soon died out. Cours ing men realized that sheer racing is inimical to the traditional principles of the sport.
After nearly 5o years, owners of greyhounds in general viewed with marked disfavour the efforts to establish greyhound racing in England. Its success in America prompted an American com pany to send over representatives with a view to beginning opera tions in England, but they failed to secure sufficient support. As greyhound racing became popular in America, another effort was made to introduce it into England, and this time the result was the formation of a private company called the Greyhound Racing Association, which opened a large racing track at Manchester in July 1926. Greyhound owners viewed the scheme askance, and so few of them could be induced to enter dogs for the races that the Association was obliged itself to buy dogs to fill the entries for the first few meetings. But the racing and the opportunities it afforded for betting made an immediate appeal to the public of Manchester, and large numbers of spectators were attracted. Once it had been demonstrated that there was money in grey hound racing, a general rush ensued among speculators all over the country to form companies and secure sites for the laying out of tracks. Between the beginning of January and the end of Sept. 1927, as many as 68 such companies were registered. At a few places public opinion ranged itself against what was regarded as a mere money-making spectacle ; but most of the companies found a ready patronage, and enormous crowds flocked to some of the bigger centres. Moreover, the apparent success of greyhound rac ing quickly found a reflection among enterprising speculators in many other countries. It soon became established in Australia, and projects for laying out tracks were started as far afield as India, Egypt and China. In Belgium a primitive form of racing, in which the greyhounds ran over a straight track, at the end of which their owners stood calling them, as in whippet racing, gained some popularity during the World War, and it spread to some extent to France ; but this was eclipsed by "mechanical hare" racing when its success became evident in England.
It is not necessary to look very far to understand the success of greyhound racing. The greyhound itself is a dog of beautiful lines, and there is an undoubted thrill in seeing him at full stretch in close competition with others. But it is to be observed at any meeting that the majority of spectators are much less interested in this aspect of the racing than in the actual result of the races and the money that is to be won and lost in betting. This, combined with the fact that most meetings are held in the evening, when working people have leisure to attend, has been a large influence in attracting spectators. More over, greyhound racing provided something entirely new to the public, both in conception and presentation. The methods adopted on the tracks of the Greyhound Racing Association may be taken as an example, for upon them most of the other tracks have been modelled. The arena resembles an up-to-date football ground, oval in shape, with accommodation for spectators provided all round it in grand stands or open terraced banking. The actual track, which is usually of grass, is brilliantly illuminated at night by means of powerful electric lights, while the rest of the ground is in semi-darkness during the races. The dummy hare runs round the outside edge of the track, propelled by concealed mechanism, which is controlled by an official stationed in the top of a tower, from which he can regulate its speed according to the pace of the dogs. At the end of the race the hare is switched into a tunnel, which is closed to the dogs by means of a trap-door.
Usually not more than six dogs compete in each race. Each dog wears a racing coat bearing a distinctive number and colour, and at the start the dogs are placed in separate divisions of a starting box, from which they can see the hare begin a circuit of the course. As the hare flashes past the box the dogs are released simultane ously by the raising of the front of the box. For the fair running of the races a good deal depends on the control of the speed of the hare. If the leading dog is allowed to gain too much on it, he may be induced to swing out after it at the bends in the track, and thus lose ground, while the dogs in the rear, seeing it farther round the bend, may keep close to the inside edge and gain an advan tage. It is inevitable that there should be occasionally jostling round the bends, which sometimes leads to fighting, and, although a form of muzzle is worn by each dog, fighting has been an un pleasant feature (1928) of several meetings.
Races are usually of either 50o yards or 525 yards, and at the same distances races over hurdles are also run ; and the times of the winners are recorded to hundredths of seconds. The speed of greyhounds has always been an interesting matter of discussion and speculation, but opportunities for making comparative records of it have seldom occurred before the introduction of racing. In order to provide as close races as possible between dogs of dif ferent calibre, the Greyhound Racing Association adopted a sys tem of grading competitors on the form shown in trials or actual racing, and entering them for races only against dogs of more or less equal merit. The times recorded have shown that the fastest greyhounds run over 525 yards flat at an average speed of more than 35 miles an hour, and over hurdles at an average speed of more than 33 miles an hour.
With the rapid extension of greyhound racing and the multiplication of companies formed to participate in it, the question of establishing an authoritative controlling body arose. Many people imagined that greyhound racing could at once assume a status equal to that of the great British sports, overlook ing the fundamental difference that exists between a sport that is pursued for the sake of sport by the main body of its adherents and a form of entertainment introduced purely for the profit of its promoters. The Greyhound Racing Association very early in its career sought the recognition and co-operation of the National Coursing Club, which at once decided that "the activities of the Greyhound Racing Association have nothing to do with the sport of coursing as legislated for by the Rules of the National Cours ing Club." Nevertheless, the Association made one of its rules that no dog should be allowed to race on its track unless the dog had been registered in the National Coursing Club's Greyhound Stud Book, and the Association continued to seek the good will and support of the prominent coursing men and clubs. With so many rival companies in the field, efforts to concentrate the control of greyhound racing as a whole in one body proved unavailing, and eventually the Greyhound Racing Association vested control of racing on its tracks in an independent committee consisting of Lord Chesham (chairman), the Earl of Westmorland, and Captain H. E. de Trafford, with Major C. L. C. Clarke as honorary secre tary. This committee was empowered to draw up rules, to issue licences to stewards and trainers, and in effect to control the actual racing and organization of meetings on the Association's tracks. Meanwhile, a group of rival companies joined in forming a controlling body, called the Canine and Greyhound Racing Con trol Board, for their tracks. Before long, steps were again taken to found a single controlling body, and early in 1928 the representa tives of the chief tracks met and formed the National Greyhound Racing Club. The constitution of the club was designed to be similar to that of the Jockey Club, and Captain E. A. V. Stanley, Lieut.-Gen. Sir Edward Bethune and Major D. B. Corbet were appointed stewards, with Lord Chesham, Lord Loch and Captain Arthur Hope members of a standing committee.
Rules of the National Greyhound Racing Club Bibliography.-The Rules of the National Greyhound Racing Club (1928) ; Greyhound Racing Calendar, issued by the National Grey hound Racing Club ; A. Croxton Smith, Greyhound Racing and Breed ing (1927), containing information on the management of meetings and the training of greyhounds for racing. (F. I. W.) The United States.—The sport of racing greyhounds has never gained wide popularity in the United States. Attempts have been made to introduce it in various places, but only in Florida and California have these ventures met with any particular success. Probably the first attempt to introduce the sport was made in Colorado in the '9os. The dogs were raced by the Bartel brothers, of Denver, who invested generously in good racing dogs imported from England. For a time, coursing was popular in the Rocky Mountain States. From there, the interest spread to Cali fornia. For many years, dog racing was conducted in the outskirts of San Francisco. In a measure it was successful, but after a while it dawned upon the public that the man who owned the track owned the competing dogs and both the handicapper and starter were in his employ. There had been betting on the events. The dogs ran after live hares, and these victims furnished the only honest part of the combination.
It was not until the mechanical hare had been perfected and brought into use that Florida became the scene of greyhound racing. The mechanical hare appeased the humanitarians who objected to the use of live victims for the races. The sport flourished a bit with this objection removed but again there began to be suspicions of tampering with the dogs. It was probably because of such suspicions that attempts to introduce the sport at both Atlantic City and Newark resulted in large financial losses for the promoters. The only way in which greyhound racing can be successful in the United States is to have it run along the lines followed by the horse racing interests or the greyhound racing sup porters in England. (F. F. D.)
