Very short history of greyhound racing

Greyhound racing dates back only quite recently to 1919 when Owen Smith promoted the first major race meeting in California. His research into forcing the dogs round a track must have raised some eyebrows at the time, as once he had hit on the idea of getting them to chase a rabbit, his experiments included dragging a stuffed one around a track behind a motorcycle.

The sport did not reach British shores until 1926 when Manchester's purpose-built track first held a meeting on 24th July. It was such a success that finance became available to build tracks around the country, and today Greyhound racing is consistently the second ranking spectator sport in Britain - behind football.