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It’s potentially a slippery slope for sure. Racing does at least have some place in the public consciousness and there’s much more awareness of the fact that in one way or another it does provide a reasonable amount of employment for example. I think there would be much more opposition to it. On top of the three main courses, I assume there must be a few PTP venues and there is also a harness racing scene in Wales as well.
I suspect many people’s reaction to a greyhound racing ban would either be either that they didn’t know it still went on or they thought it already had been.
Horse racing is much more popular. It provides a lot of jobs and is worth a great deal more to the bookmakers and to the Treasury, so yes there would be a lot more opposition to any talk of a ban.
But how much longer will it be popular? I sense a lot more hostility to horse racing and to betting now, especially amongst young people. And in particular amongst the university educated young people who are likely to be in government in 20 or 30 years time.
I made the mistake at looking at some comments on various social media platforms after the tragic death of Michael O’Sullivan. Even in those circumstances the anti crowd could not give it a rest. Plenty of comments seemed far more concerned about the welfare of the horse he had been riding. And there were plenty more along the lines of “ban this sport where horses are whipped to death every day for people to bet on”.
Racing will continue in the short term. But attitudes are changing and a British Parliament has now legislated for a sport involving animals and betting to be banned, for reasons of ideological spite and on the basis of no good scientific data.
The long term prospects for horse racing have to be a concern.
Once more than 20 tracks in Scotland, would you believe, according to report today on BBC News website on it’s likely ban there
I think that if greyhound racing is banned it will be the end of the greyhound as a breed as very few people would go out of their way to buy a greyhound puppy but will happily own an ex racer when all the hard work has been done. The people that I know that have ex racers seem to find them well socialised and they adapt very well to being pets. And they will definitely sleep for 23/24 hours a day if left to their own devices. 24 hours a day if it’s raining. That’s why I like having a sight hound. Would hate to have the sort of dog that has to be exercised no matter what the weather is like. Give me a dog any day that prefers duvet days when it’s cold or wet. Unlike other puppies greyhounds stay with their litter mates for up to a year which is why they’re usually so good with other dogs although you’ve always got to be aware that they might run down a small dog. A lot of them are cat friendly, too. They check them out with cats before rehoming. We’re meeting up with the annual greyhound walk from Bamburgh Castle in a weeks time and our whippet walks back home usually include a few greyhounds. They’re one of the oldest breeds and one that has never been tampered with to make it more fashionable so, in general they’re very healthy although sadly are prone to osteosarcomas in middle age which may be down to their size. They make great pets for older people.
There aren’t any operating greyhound tracks in Scotland at this time. Thornton, a few miles from me in Fife, operated as a flapping track until suspending racing after their meeting on March 9th this year. The following message has been posted on the track’s website:
There is no greyhound racing at Thornton Stadium at the moment.
The plan is to negotiate a contract with an online bookmaker to provide betting for the racing, pay prize money, have a vet in attendance and integrity services. In this way we hope to satisfy the Scottish Governments guidelines for greyhound racing to continue in Scotland. This may take some time so it may be best for your greyhounds to go to a GBGB or IGB track. I will keep you informed about any progress.The last NGRC track at Shawfield ceased racing in 2020 due to the Covid epidemic and didn’t restart. Site will presuambly be sold for housing development, Clyde FC having left many years ago and any work to bring the stadium up to standard for sport would be prohibitively expensive.
There was a plan for a track at Wallyford near Musselburgh. Anyone who travlled on the East Coast Main Line Railway would have a seen a steel structure near to the railway. It was intended to set up a greyhound stadium but it was dependent on permission for a housing development. The latter wasn’t granted and the stadium plan was abandoned in 2021. Sicne then Wallyford has been growing rapidly, and looks likely to double in size in the next few years, the structure was taken down to allow for a housing development which is now well under way.
As an aside my mother had a retired greyhound for a good few years. His name was Olly and he was great company for her until he passed away. Racing name was Storming Ahead, latterly racing at Portsmouth, but he didn’t like running at the front of the race and kept coming second!
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