Inside Track: Greyhound racing has brought pleasure to countless thousands over the years

The Greyhound game is much different nowadays than it was when I was a practitioner. The halcyon days were from the 1970s up to when the Celtic Tiger lost its bite. We had a bit of luck with our Bellurgan Point kennel, but that’s not where this story is going.

Back then, crowds were huge, and as online betting, as well as online everything else, was only a thought in some inventor’s mind, track bookies and the Tote did a roaring trade. Now you can wager on all you like on your phone, not only on greyhound racing.

The racing was good, as, indeed, it still is. Dundalk was the country’s leading provincial track, and with the introduction of the Carrolls 525 International in 1968, gained renown beyond these shores.

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Shelbourne Park was the flagship, and Belfast punters flocked to Dunmore and Celtic Park, where the betting that went on would give you the impression money was going out of fashion.

There was big punting at Dundalk as well, especially on a Saturday night, with up to 15 or 16 bookies there to facilitate the biggest of wagers. And on the track, some of the country’s fastest greyhounds strutted their stuff. You didn’t have to be a bettor to enjoy it.

The dying days of the old stadium on The Ramparts in the late 1990s had racing that was only a pale shadow of what had gone before; but there was a huge revival with the switch to Dowdallshill in 2004.

Elsewhere, however, there was a creeping decline, and if some tracks had been reeling, the crash of the economy delivered a wounding blow. In more recent times, Covid was damaging, badly effecting attendances.

There’s no longer racing at the two Belfast tracks, and also closed are Navan, Longford, Harold’s Cross, and Dungannon.

The ones whose doors are still open are not being patronised as of old. Crowds are down, but the standard of racing remains high, and more than ever before, the Irish-bred greyhound is in demand.

Look at the line-up for any of the major finals in Britain and you’ll find that several of the runners, sometimes the entire field, first saw the light of day over here. As for Irish finals – it’s always all home produce.

Coursing, without which there might never have been greyhound racing (introduced to this country in 1928) has exercised the minds of what’s become known as the ‘antis’ over the years, letter-writers and protesters given all the prominence they seek.

It’s worth mentioning that way back in the 1880s, when we in this country had the jackboot on our throats, Master McGrath provided a much-needed fillip.

The black-and-white Waterford-bred was taken across the Irish Sea to contest coursing’s Blue Riband, the Waterloo Cup, for so long the preserve of the titled.

There was rejoicing among the ordinary people of this country when, at a time of very little international sport, or sport of any kind, Master McGrath won the title in 1868, retained it, and then came back in 1871 to win for the third time. He was the Arkle of his day.

(The country's spirits were lifted by Master McGrath's three wins in the Waterloo Cup. He is pictured on left with another three-times Waterloo winner, Fullerton)

Coursing continues to be practiced in Ireland, but has been banned in the United Kingdom.

That, however, has not broken the spirit of enthusiasts in the northern part of this country. The Dungannon and Ballymena clubs remain, the former staging its annual meeting in conjunction with Cavan, and Ballymena joining forces with Tubbercurry, in Sligo.

The decline in racing’s appeal has absolutely nothing to do with the welfare of greyhounds. You might think otherwise listening to Dublin TD, Paul Murphy, and reading newspaper articles.

Murphy was on the radio recently, and in making his case to outlaw the sport in this country, mentioned the Welsh parliament’s decision to ban racing at The Valley, the country’s only track. He didn’t, however, explain how the decision had been arrived at – it was in no way related to greyhound welfare.

The Labour Party holds just half the seats in the Senedd (Welsh parliament), and in order to get a budget passed, the help of at least one opposition MS was needed.

In offering her assistance, Liberal Democrat, Jane Dodds, came with a wish-list. She wanted extra funding for child welfare, councils and transport. And a ban on greyhound racing.

In order to get a £26b budget passed, the government acceded to her demands. It’s been described by the British greyhound authorities as a “dirty, dodgy, backroom deal” that had nothing to do with greyhound racing.

Closer to home, a newspaper headline reading, “102 greyhounds killed at Dundalk since 2014”, was probably intended to cause shock and horror, and maybe it did.

“Killed” might have given the impression that the dogs died while racing, suffering a heart attack, a fatal fall, or perhaps crashing into a wall, dying instantly.

But that’s not how it would have been in most cases. Dogs would have been injured, and then after a thorough examination by the track vet, put down. There’s a difference.

There are injuries in every sport, to humans as well as animals. Sadly, there are also deaths, as we know only too well in this country. There’ll be mourning for a long time to come over the recent passing of jockey Michael O’Sullivan and boxer John Cooney.

Let’s put that Dundalk figure over a decade in perspective. In that time over 100 meetings per year were run at the Dowdallshill stadium. On each card, there were nine races, and sometimes more, 12 on occasions. Multiplied, that gives us near 1,000 races in a year.

With six in each race, we would then have around 6,000 greyhounds competing annually. Ten times that and we have 60,000 chasing the lure in the decade under review.

Just imagine how many injuries there would be in the same number of football matches, or boxing contests, or horse races, in motorsport, or on the athletics field.

And in case there’s anyone who thinks otherwise, greyhounds love racing, and in doing so in this country for almost a century, have given thousands of people, owners, breeders, trainers, and spectators any amount of pleasure.

As for coursing, it goes back so far it’s mentioned in the Bible. Ovid and Virgil wrote about it, and Arrian, a Roman commentator, using the non-de-plume, Xenophon, gave a detailed description of the sport in 150 AD.

Yes, the ancient game has certainly stood the test of time.