Greyhound Racing History

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Greyhound breed origins and history in the ancient world

Greyhound racing history in the medieval Europe

Greyhound racing in modern era

Greyhound racing history in the United States

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Greyhound breed origins and history in the ancient world

The greyhound breed goes back in history over 4000 years. The ancestors of the modern greyhounds were used for hunting in ancient Egypt, Arab world, Persia and in Greco-Roman epoch. In the 5^th century a Greek soldier Xenophon who was a Socrates’ pupil wrote a manual on hunting with dogs. Fast hunting dogs were a prized possession of pharaohs, kings and ancient aristocracy. The hunting breed was even mentioned in the Bible.

Greyhound racing history in the medieval Europe

The direct ancestor of greyhound racing was a sport of coursing, which was very popular in the medieval Europe for centuries. The coursing was a chase of the live prey across open country. The prey usually was small animals like hares and foxes. The greyhounds were followed by the judges and spectators on horses. The first formal rules of greyhound coursing were established by the Queen Elizabeth I in the 16^th century. That’s why the greyhound racing is called the “Sport of Queens”. The sport of queens was a favorite pastime of the European aristocracy. It was not available for the common folks could not afford keeping the horses and greyhounds.

Greyhound racing in modern era

The modern history of greyhound racing started in 19^th century England when somebody came up with an idea of a circular racing course. That idea was met with great enthusiasm from the public. There was no need anymore to chase the greyhounds to see the results. The public could conveniently sit on the stands and watch the dogs running around cirular racing track chasing a mechanical rabbit. That innovation in greyhound racing helped to promote sport all over the world. Now greyhound racing is popular in United States, Britain and many European countries including Spain, France, Belgium and Holland.

Greyhound racing history in United States

Greyhounds were imported into United States in the early 1800s with the purpose of controlling jack rabbit population, which was destroying crops in the southern states. Soon after that the competition between dogs appeared as a spectators’ sport, which turned later in one of the popular betting events. In 1912 an inventor Owen Patrick Smith perfected the mechanical lure by making it electrically powered. It became easy to control the speed of the lure keeping the rabbit always at a close distance in front of the dogs. Smith’s invention was first tried with great success in 1919 on the greyhound racing track at Emeryville in California.

In the beginning there was little regulation and control over greyhound racing. In result, there were many opportunities to cheat and tamper with the results of the greyhound races. Popular form of cheating was doping of the dogs before the race to slow them down. Another one was substituting a slow greyhound with the fast and similar looking one to beat long odds and reap the huge profits for dishonest promoters. Now, the states’ greyhound racing commissions and national greyhound associations supervise the greyhound races making it almost impossible to cheat. To prevent substitutions every racing greyhound now must be registered at birth. Its paws are printed and recorded. Also, every greyhound must wear an identity disk.

At the present time greyhound racing is legal in 19 states. Among all the states Florida was the biggest greyhound racing market which was in action since 1920s.

Copyright Progress Publishing Co. 2006

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