Coursing—the development, breeding, and preparation of racing dogs, as well as the competition itself—
is one of the world’s oldest sports. The greyhound eventually came to the fore as the swiftest animal that could
be domesticated and trained to run at breathtaking
speeds over a variety of distances.
History
Dog racing has evolved over millennia; the trained
dog held an important place in ancient Egypt and Assyria and in the Mayan civilization. Unlike many
breeds that have been transformed over the centuries—for example, such bull-baiting types as the
boxer, bulldog, and mastiff—the greyhound has remained virtually unchanged.
Lord Orford is credited with founding the first
coursing club in Swaffham in 1776. Other clubs were
formed in Britain, and in 1836 an unofficial national
championship came into being, called the Waterloo
Cup after Liverpool’s Waterloo Hotel. Hotel proprietors
and publicans frequently found themselves promoting
greyhound race meetings, since the taproom and the
racetrack seemed to complement each other. Conducted in a climate of unlimited gambling, these meetings brought together crowds of spectators eager to
speculate and make merry.
In 1858 a National Coursing Club was set up to
monitor the sport in England. Even more than horse
racing, coursing lent itself to chicanery and deception.
Most often there was the subterfuge of substituting one
greyhound for another, so careful scrutiny was critical
if the sport’s reputation was to be maintained. Coursing
qualified as a popular blood sport in Victorian England
(along with boxing and foxhunting), and some groups
came to oppose it because the dogs usually killed the
live hare released to encourage them to run.
The invention of the mechanical hare and, later, an
electrified hare on a circular track saved the sport. The
first attempt at creating a mechanical hare took place at
Welsh Harp, Hendon, in 1876. The “hare” was mounted
on a rail and moved by means of a rope and pulley system. The major drawbacks of the system, and the reason this innovative gadget was unsuccessful, was that it
was set up on a straight track of 400 yards. This meant
that the quickest greyhound would win again and
again, thus all but eliminating the important gambling
elements of luck, tactics, lane draw, and guile. The
shape of the track was changed to a circle or oval.
Meanwhile, in certain regions of Britain greyhound
racing became hugely popular and attracted wildly enthusiastic crowds made up mostly of working-class
men eager to drink ale and wager on a succession of
closely contested races.
Although the mechanical hare’s prototypes were tested in England, it was an American, Owen Patrick
Smith, who shaped greyhound racing as it exists today.
In 1912 in South Dakota, Smith successfully tested a
mechanical hare (otherwise known as a mechanical
lure), and two years later used it on a greyhound racing
track that he established in Tucson, Arizona. The first
recorded race with the electric hare took place in 1920
at Emeryville, California. Smith went on to organize the
International Greyhound Racing Association.
An American, Charles Munn, who introduced the
now-electrified form of greyhound racing to its native
England in 1925. Despite early indifference, Munn
eventually found a partner for his venture, Gen. A. C.
Critchley, and set up an experimental track in 1926 at
Belle Vue, Manchester. They could not have selected a
better site, since the area was primarily populated by
working-class people who were excited by the sport
and who wagered passionately on the outcome.
Tracks sprang up in most of the major cities of
Great Britain in the late 1920s, offering cheap gambling
and a night out for ordinary working people who found
it difficult to go to horse-racing. Sixty-two companies
with a total capital of 7 million pounds were registered
for greyhound racing in 1927 alone. Britain was “going
to the dogs” and by 1932 the annual attendance at licensed tracks in London had risen to 6.5 million. Several of the leading tracks drew 200 to 300 bookmakers.
In the pre–World War II era, greyhound racing became
Scotland’s second-most-popular spectator sport after
soccer (association football).
Sports historian Richard Holt describes the “rich
tradition of potions and tricks” that was part and parcel of the greyhound racing culture. The common practices of concealing a dog’s true form and cloaking the
champion performer created an atmosphere in which
deception and guile posed no moral or ethical
dilemma, but rather were integral elements in an unpredictable, unfolding drama.
In 1925, the advent of night racing played a key role
in popularizing greyhound racing as a spectator sport
in the United States. During its early years the sport
was plagued by criminal elements who took advantage
of the quick profits that could be make by “doctoring” a
dog or bribing an untrustworthy dog handler. Eventually, dog owners and racetrack promoters saw to it that
the sport was regulated and closely supervised. This
helped establish credibility and integrity in the sport.
In 1932, with the legalization of greyhound racing
gambling at on- and off-course locations in Florida
(parimutuel betting), the sport’s future was assured.
Two years later, greyhound racing and parimutuel betting were enjoying success at U.S. tracks as far north as
Massachusetts.
Rules and Play
Greyhound racing continues to be an exhibition of pure
speed. Races tend to be no more than 550 meters (601
yards), but 950-meter (1,039-yard) marathons do occur. At these distances the greyhound maintains an average speed of 60 kilometers (37 miles) per hour—
faster than harness horseracing (48 kilometers [30
miles] per hour), but slightly slower than flat horseracing over similar distances (62 kilometers [39 miles] per
hour).
Betting is an important element of the sport for
many fans. People attending greyhound races receive
charts that list the physical characteristics and performance records of the dogs in each race.
Nighttime greyhound racing has a singular ambiance and setting. The configuration of the track; the
darkened backdrop and brightly illuminated track; the
lean, lithe dogs with their handlers; and the intense involvement of wagering spectators all come together to
create a kind of working man’s theater. Nevertheless,
greyhound racing continues to find it difficult to compete with the mystique of horseracing and the tradition
of the Kentucky Derby.
Greyhound racing is established in 18 U.S. states.
Florida has 15 of the 51 tracks, closely followed by
southern New England, which has 6 tracks in 5 states.
Within the United States the sport is controlled by the
American Greyhound Track Operators Association,
with headquarters in Miami, Florida. Among spectator
sports in the United States, greyhound racing ranks
sixth. In 1988, the revenue from the 51 U.S. dog tracks
generated $225 million in tax dollars. In Great Britain,
the sport continues to be associated with working-class communities. A 1995 Economist obituary on union
leader Sam McCluskie opened with the comment,
“There are leaders of British trade unions whom one
could still imagine owning a racing greyhound.”
—SCOTT A. G. M. CRAWFORD
Bibliography: Holt, R. (1989) Sport and the British: A Modern History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Raitz, K. B.,
ed. (1995) The Theater of Sport. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press.