For lovers of unique fun and games, we present you for inspection material about exciting events – greyhound racing. Many years ago, greyhound racing looked like a pale copy of horse racing, but over time everything changed, and today there are much more lovers on the planet even among famous movie stars and other influential people on the planet. Over the past year, attendance amounted to more than 5 million people, spent more than 2 billion pounds on betting, and the profit from the received funds amounted to over 11 million pounds.
A bit of the history of greyhound racing
For the first time in 1926, greyhound racing was held at the Belle Vue Stadium in Manchester. Over time, their popularity increases, and competitions are held in almost all cities in the UK. However, during the Second World War, development abruptly ceased. Slow growth in the competition was observed in the early 60-70-ies. A new surge in popularity began in the 90s, when the intensive construction of stadiums began thanks to financial investments the infrastructure is being developed. Today, this sport attracts a wide audience of viewers, since visitors here are offered high-quality service and comfortable rest. Everyone who wishes is given the opportunity to observe the course of the competition from individual comfortable rooms for viewing, to visit the chic bars and restaurants with a high level of service.
Greyhound running
Each race consists of six greyhounds. Their speed is breathtaking, as they overcome the distance of 500 meters in just 30 seconds, and the new race takes place every 15-20 minutes, creating a stunning show in non-stop mode with attempts to guess the winner, creates such an intriguing and exciting competition for the viewers.
Modern greyhound racing
It is known that for a long time in the UK the hound was an exclusive prerogative of aristocrats, and it was considered a crime for ordinary peasants to have such a dog. It is the greyhound who has muscular hind legs and a good physique. However, their character is rather malicious therefore the muzzle is obligatory during the competition. Very jealous, in the case of competition can bite and injure the enemy. Greyhounds are completely different outside the track; they are obedient, friendly and very easy to train. Surprisingly, at home, they are lovers of swing and not very active. However, everything changes on the track: animals move quickly and gracefully. Make sure this is best at the stadium by visiting dog races.
Bets and dog races
Before making a bet, watch the races and study and analyze the information and only then if you feel that you understand the topic, you can risk money. Start with small bets, over time you will have experience, and you will understand the alignment of forces in the race, do you really need to play for this race, etc. Some players prefer to wait and put, in their opinion, only on the surest races. You must be able to distinguish the shape of the dog on the peak and the decline. Every coach has different tactics: some bring the dog to powerful races (4-6 times), which then decline, others keep the dog at a stable level, not forcing events.
Throughout the history of the races, many betting schemes have arisen. But as practice shows, none of them can be the right way to make a profit. After all, dog runs are considered the most unpredictable. Some types of runs have consistent results, while others are unexpected and sensational.
Greyhound racing: Features
Dog racing or greyhound racing is one of the oldest, but not lost sports to this day, the main purpose of which is to determine the fastest dog (usually greyhounds or greyhounds) during different distances. During such races, hunting dogs pursue a mechanical lure for them, which is usually called a hare or rabbit. The hare moves along the edge of the stadium at a certain speed, and this lure is always faster than the dogs participating in the race, so it’s almost impossible to catch up with it. Such a hare begins its movement in advance its launch takes place about half a circle to the starting point of the competing dogs. As soon as the hare reaches the starting point and passes a certain distance from it, the shutters of the boxes, in which the hounds of dogs stand, automatically open and the runners begin to pursue the goal.
Competitions are completed as soon as the nose of one of the participating dogs crosses the finish line – it becomes the winner. An interesting fact is that the location of the paws at this moment is not taken into account, but only the nose of the dog. However, if during the competition one of the dogs managed to reach and catch a mechanical hare or simply overtake him – the race is interrupted, and its results do not count. Since dogs sometimes run almost close to each other, a photo finish is used in such competitions only with the help of it one can sometimes determine a real winner. Before the announcement of the main prize-winner, the judges carefully study the resulting photos, paying attention, as mentioned earlier, to the noses of the race participants.
Greyhounds travel a distance of 480 meters in about 28 seconds, that is, almost two times faster than human athletes. Very often dog breeds hounds start their participation in races from 15 months, however on average dogs from 2.5 to 3.5 years are allowed to compete. Despite the fact that hounds are animals, they are very docile and obedient, yet during the race they can stagger aggressively and even attack a rival who runs alongside. In order to avoid misunderstandings in the form of dog fights right in the stadium, all participants of such races are wearing special muzzles. Now the most popular surface for running dogs is sand, as the grass cover, which was used earlier, requires very difficult and long care in the autumn and winter period.
In some countries, this sport is considered an amateur, so the races are held only for entertainment. In other countries (USA, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Spain, China and Mexico) races are arranged with the aim of earning money through bets on competitors. Such races are similar to horseback riding, although the size of bets on particularly frisky dogs is much smaller in size than is usually done on thoroughbred horses. A lot of discussions are conducted in the above-mentioned countries regarding this sport, as some people are concerned about the health and maintenance of hounds, their fate after the end of their sports career. In some states, special centers have even been created to help those who have completed their careers, that is, retired dogs to find new owners and their home, but as pets.
For hound breed dogs, running is not just a basic, but also an urgent need of their organisms. Often during the competition they run a distance of 400, 600 and even 1000 meters. Greyhounds will train for future competitions, for which they will be ready at the age of one and a half years you need to start as early as nine months. The weight of greyhounds should not exceed the mark of 30 kg, and they should run 400 meters in about 22 seconds. Some greyhounds can reach speeds of up to 70 km per hour. The main advantage of this sport is its integrity and honesty in holding competitions, and all because the participants of the competition are not people, but animals, which it is simply impossible to bribe with money. The influence of a person on the results of such competitions is reduced to zero, since the result here depends only on the talent of the hound, its training, agility and ability to go through difficult sections of the tracks.
English traditions
In the societies of hunters, where greyhounds previously consisted, there was always a long turn to hunt, both for free and for the beast assault. In the language of industrialists, the capacity was barely enough to test first-years. In addition, borzoi hunting is not only rare, but extremely expensive entertainment. But the initiator of the run was still far from Russia. If we had “not enough power,” then in many European countries greyhound hunting was completely forbidden. It was there, in particular in England, the ancestor of this sport, in order to compensate dogs for weaning from the natural need of the greyhounds to hunt, the greyhounds running after the mechanical “hare” were very common.
The first mention of the greyhounds goes back to the 6th millennium BC. Flavius Arrian in his Treatise on Hunting describes dog competitions in the race for live game. The ancient Celts perpetuated this tradition. But at first there was still a living rabbit, which was driven out of a hole with the help of a ferret, and, until the rabbit hid in the neighboring thickets, the greyhound had to catch it. Or on the contrary, the rabbit was driven out of the undergrowth, and the greyhound had to catch him until he disappeared into his hole. For a long time the pursuit of the hare, which appeared in the time of the English Queen Elizabeth I, was one of the varieties of dog racing. The goal is to compare the running qualities of a pair of greyhounds who were chasing a live hare. The agility and speed of the dogs were assessed by the judge following the dogs on horseback. Although the death of the hare was rare, animal welfare societies vehemently protested against the use of live bait.