Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom

Greyhound racing is a popular sport in the United Kingdom with attendances at around 3.2 million at over 5,750 meetings, across 26 stadiums in 2007 alone. There are 29 stadiums in the UK, it is a Parimutuel betting (The Tote) system with on-course and off-course betting available, with a turnover of £75,100,000 [http://www.thedogs.co.uk/index.php?m=aid&id=347] .

tadiums

There are 29 National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC) registered stadiums in the UK. These include:
*Belle Vue Stadium
*Brighton & Hove Greyhound Stadium
*Coventry Stadium
*Crayford Stadium
*Doncaster Stadium
*Hall Green Stadium
*Harlow Stadium
*Henlow Stadium
*Hull Stadium
*Kinsley Stadium
*Mildenhall Stadium
*Monmore Green Stadium
*Newcastle Stadium
*Nottingham Greyhound Stadium
*Oxford Stadium
*Pelaw Grange
*Perry Barr Stadium
*Peterborough Stadium
*Poole Stadium
*Portsmouth Stadium
*Reading Stadium
*Romford Stadium
*Shawfield Stadium
*Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield
*Sittingbourne Stadium
*Sunderland Stadium
*Swindon Stadium
*Wimbledon Stadium
*Yarmouth Stadium

Competitions

There are many types of competions in the UK, with prize money reaching a staggering £15,737,122.

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 the UK; Scottish Greyhound Derby held at Shawfield Stadium, English Greyhound Derby held at Wimbledon. With a third in Ireland held at Shelbourne Park open to UK greyhounds.

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 £5000. 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 £1000. 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 usally staged by the promoter in support on the night of other opens.This will be proposed to the committee by the NGRC or by a promoter, with the racers being invited into the competition rather than the usual process. The minimum prizen 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, prize money is varied. This kind of racing is the core of most stadiums and can be viewed in betting shops on the BAGS or BEGS service.

Treatment of racing dogs

In the UK Greyhounds are not kept at the tracks and are instead housed in the kennels of private individuals (usually the trainer, in the case of licensed NGRC tracks - unlicensed greyhound racing is known as "flapping") and transported to the tracks to race. Dogs' health and condition are checked at the track, and drugs tests are conducted to check for tampering with the dogs. This is thought to be better for the dogs welfare than in other countries.

Retirement

Due to the high number of dogs going through the system each year the National Greyhound Racing Club have set up [http://www.retiredgreyhounds.co.uk/ The Retired Greyhound Trust] to rehome the Greyhounds who have left or were unable to start racing, it is a charity but is partly funded by the National Greyhound Racing Club and presents a better view of Greyhound racing to the public. There are also many independent organisations who are finding homes for retired Greyhounds.

After the dogs are no longer able to race (generally, a greyhound's career will end by the age of four to six), many keep dogs as family pets after retirement, owners may keep the dog for breeding, or they can send them to adoption groups, euthanization is a last resort, if no other option is viable.

Adoption

The main adoption organization in the UK is the Retired Greyhound Trust (RGT). Several organizations, such as British Greyhounds Retired Database, Adopt-a-Greyhound and Greyhound Pets of America also exist to try to ensure that as many of the dogs as possible are adopted.

In recent years the racing industry has made significant progress in establishing programs for the adoption of retired racers. In addition to actively cooperating with private adoption groups throughout the country, many race tracks have established their own adoption programs. A significant amount of money made from greyhound racing is now put into retirement programs and to the RGT.

Drugs

Drug Using has emerged as a problem in Greyhound racing. The racing industry is actively working to prevent the spread of this practice; attempts are made to recover urine samples from all greyhounds in a race, not just the winners. 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 NGRC. 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.

ee also

*Greyhound racing
*Greyhound adoption

References

[http://www.ngrc.org.uk/find_track_map.asp/ Tracks in UK]

[http://www.ngrc.org.uk/open_races.asp?cat=5&page=236/ Competitions]

External links

* [http://www.ngrc.org.uk/default.asp/ NGRC]
* [http://www.thedogs.co.uk/ The British Greyhound Racing Board]
* [http://www.retiredgreyhounds.co.uk/ The Retired Greyhound Trust]
* [http://www.greyhound-data.com/index.htm/ Greyhound Data]