There are few sporting events that offer the visceral pleasure of greyhound racing. Fast and ferocious, they are akin to horse racing but without the pageantry. Indeed, whilst horse racing is considered to be a sport fit for a king, greyhound racing is predominantly enjoyed by the working class.
That has long been the case, even if it doesn’t hold the same attention as it once did. There are therefore few things as annoying as thinking that you might be in with a chance of winning a bet you’ve placed, only to discover that your dog has been disqualified.
The question then becomes, what reasons are there that a greyhound might be disqualified from a race? The answer is not all that easy to give, on account of the fact that there are a few reasons why a greyhound might end up being disqualified from a race. If the wrong dog is run, for example, or it fails to meet the Greyhound Board of Great Britain’s definition of what a greyhound actually is.
Mainly, though, dogs are disqualified for interfering with other dogs on the track during a race, which is Rule 53 of the GBGB’s rules for greyhound racing.
What Is A Greyhound?
It might seem silly to go so microscopic as to look at what it is that actually qualifies a dog as being a greyhound.
This is especially the case when you bear in mind that the Greyhound Board of Great Britain simply says the following under Rule 22 – Greyhound – Definition:
The term greyhound shall include dog or bitch.
That, one might readily surmise, is because the definition of a greyhound is pretty substantially put in place by the likes of the Kennel Club.
They say that a greyhound is a strongly built dog that boasts muscular power and symmetrical formation.
The ideal height of a dog is between 71 and 76 centimetres, whilst that shifts to between 69 and 71 centimetres for a bitch.
The Age Of Greyhounds
Races are often limited to certain ages when it comes to the types of greyhounds that can take part in them. A greyhound’s age begins on the first day of the month in which it is whelped, with those under the age of 15 months unable to take part in any race or initial trials.
For example, a dog that is whelped in January won’t be able to take part in races until the first of April in the following year.
Greyhounds can be called puppies for up to 24 months from the month that they were whelped. This means that a dog that is whelped in January, as an example, can be referred to as a puppy until the end of December of the following year.
If a greyhound is discovered to have taken part in a race for which it is too young, that would be cause for them to be disqualified. Equally, if they are too old for the race that they have run in, that would also lead to the dog’s disqualification.
The Wrong Greyhound
There have been occasions in the past when the wrong greyhound has been entered into a race. This can happen by accident, though sometimes it is done deliberately in an attempt to get the better of the bookmakers. If and when a greyhound is incorrectly entered into a race, this will, unsurprisingly, lead to its disqualification the moment that it is discovered.
The Greyhound Regulatory Board has the power to arrange for an earmarking to be made on greyhound litters, which involves a unique combination of letters and numbers tattooed onto the inside of the ear pinnae.
This is how greyhounds are identified as they grow up and take part in races. A trainer that has two similar looking greyhounds with differing levels of ability might, say, enter the more talented dog into a race that the less able one was registered for in order to gain an all but certain win.
The bookies, of course, will have set their odds to the less-capable dog, meaning that the connections can bet big on the better dog and, theoretically, win some money. For this reason, disqualification of in incorrectly identified dog is a certainty.
Rule 53 – Deliberate Interference
There are numerous such rules as those above that might apply to a greyhound during a race. Whilst all of them can lead to its disqualification, the reality is that most of them rarely happen. They tend to be the work of nefarious trainers that are hoping to get one over on bookmakers and other trainers.
The main rule that will lead to the disqualification of a greyhound from a race is that of interference, which comes under the title of Rule 53 in the Rules of Racing, as set out by the Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
The term ‘deliberate interference’ is in reference to the intentional interference of a greyhound with one or more of the other dogs taking part in a trial or a race. If a Local Steward decides that this is what has happened, they will move to disqualify the dog, in line with the following rules:
- The running of the greyhound will be announced as being under review by the Local Stewards
- The trainer or any representative of the dog in question will be given the chance to present mitigating information
- At least three of the Local Stewards in charge of the race will agree with the decision to disqualify the greyhound that is believed to have deliberately interfered
- The trainer and the representatives of the dog will be informed of the Local Stewards’ decision
Not only will the greyhound be disqualified from the race in question, but the Local Stewards will also inform any other racecourses at which the greyhound is registered to be taking part in a future race or trial about what has happened.
This is because a greyhound that gets disqualified for a second time under Rule 53 will be reported to the Director of Regulation or to the GRB. The dog will then be warned off from taking part in future GBGB Licensed Racecourse events, with the warning off published in the GBGB Calendar.