How many pups make it to the track?
There was a temptation to turn this article into an Editors Chair piece reflecting on the lies that the anti-racing folk preach to Government and the public about ‘the fate of those who are too slow to make it’.
(Donate! Donate! Donate!)
Instead, we will be looking at it through the lens of the breeders and owners.
How many in a litter are likely to have race careers? What are the chances of a good one and if they don’t make it, what are the main reasons?
The following is a very small study looking at just one month of the year with greyhounds bred and registered in the UK with the Greyhound Stud Book.
We have chosen January 2022 as it represents a reasonable time window for greyhound to have formed some sort of career.
The total is just 11 litters and 66 greyhounds. The total number of litters registered in the calendar year was 168.
Romeo Recruit/Fabulous Journal 5d 1b 1/1/2022 5/6
The first litter born in 2022 were bred by Dave Firmager though by his ‘fabulous’ standards, this bunch were average enough. Five of the six littermates made it to the track though two of the most moderate were retired early from Towcester. The remaining three raced at Newcastle. Two still do though Romeo State was disqualified in June.
Hiya Butt/Sheldan 5d 2b 2/1/2022 7/7
All seven of the Sheldan litter have won races the best being Blue Diamond who was an A1 winner at Suffolk Downs. Six of the seven littermates are still racing, the exception being the minor open race stayers Farneys Copper who went lame in January.
King Turbo/Queen Charlotte 6d 2b 2/1/2022 6/8
The first litter by King Turbo featured eight pups of whom six have won races. The star is Queen Dusty who reached five Category One finals and won the Puppy Oaks at Towcester. Most of the litter started out at Central Park where King Charlie’s promising career finished in January. The remaining five are all still in training with three of them contesting either B1 or D1 at Doncaster.
Superman/Buckos Lass 2d 2b 2/1/2022 3/4
There were only four in this litter but three have won races. Fabulous Dyna will be attempting to defend her BGRF British Bred Leger final at Doncaster on Saturday. Romeo Kingpin has spent most of his career in Ireland and has 28.24 winning form at Limerick. Romeo Havok is currently running A3 at Towcester
Droopys Sydney/Ballinakil Biddy 3d 0b 4/1/2022 3/3
Just three dogs pups in this litter are all three have won races at Hove. The star of the trio is the prolific open winner and Olympic finalist, Never Say No. Consider it Done and Stand By have both been A3 regulars though the latter had his card marked last week.
Confident Rankin/Cadburys Hero 4d 3b 11/1/2022 7/7
Pete Swadden’s Cadburys Hero was an absolute win machine – A1s and opens – over Swindon’s 480m and the new 476m trip. It would be fair to say that her pups lack mum’s ability, but they have largely inherited her honesty. Although Racehome Rory was ‘required to trial’ after narrowly winning an A9, the six that remained at Swindon have all won races and the seventh, Rock It Rambo, is currently enjoying life in A2 at Sunderland.
Hiya Butt/Taranaki 4d 4b 12/1/2022 8/8
Taranaki was probably the sixth string in an excellent open race litter trained by Kevin Hutton. She joined Ronnie Hale and has produced a very acceptable litter for Stuart Ray. All eight have won races in the mid-high grades at Newcastle and are racing regularly with the exception of Blackrose Nova who was suspended for interference back in July.
Ice On Fire/Longwood Caddy 2d 4b 13/1/2022 4/6
In all honesty, not the most talented litter on show. The dam was a moderate grader at Perry Barr and Sunderland and she actually raced again after producing the litter. Four of the six pups have raced though they are low grade sprinters at either Sunderland or Towcester.
Hiya Butt/Swift Molly 2d 3b 19/1/2022 4/5
There were five in the litter and four made it to the Yarmouth circuit where their dam was a prolific winner. The pick of the bunch is A1 winner Dick Turpin though Treasure Beauty’s career would appear to be over after breaking down in January.
Riverside Oscar/Tiermore Pearl 3d 1b 20/1/2022 4/4
A litter that will be familiar to Oxford regulars where all four have won races at various grades between A2 and A6. All are currently on the racing strength.
King Turbo/A Bit Of Grace 3d 5b 26/1/2022 6/8
Another bread-and-butter litter for Stuart Ray at Newcastle. Six of the litter are winners between A2 and A8 though the best of the lot, A Bit Of Lottie received a career ending injury back in February.
So – what about those who are missing?
The gap between those pups registered and those who failed to race is nine greyhounds. In other words, 86.4% of those greyhounds born in January 2022 reached the track.
If we were to calculate that percentage into the number of British bred greyhounds registered for the entire 2022 (1,072 pups) it would means 926 made it, and 146 didn’t.
Not quite the ‘thousands’ claimed by the anti-racing crowd.
But what of those nine pups?
To understand why greyhounds don’t make the track, you can start by dividing the issues into two groups, ‘physical’ and ‘mental’.
It is the same for any performance animal. There is a percentage of racehorses and showjumpers who are born with physical disabilities, either to their skeleton or their physiology.
Alternatively, the physical damage may come later through illness or injury.
The most common ‘mental failure’ is non-chasers. These are greyhounds who are born without the instinct to chase the hare. Similarly, some racehorses don’t have the desire to compete or are largely unmanageable.
There are occasionally other mental impairments and sometimes – as we will discover – there are other unforeseen complications.
So how did our class of January 2022 fare?
The saddest case concerned the two pups from the King Turbo/A Bit Of Grace bred by Stuart Ray.
He said: “We had some new paddock fence put in with some two inch mesh. The pups were about three months old and when we went out to check them, one of the pups had got its head caught. We rushed it off to the vet. It turned out it had broken its jaw and the vet put it to sleep.
“We arrived back at the kennel and found another one with exactly the same thing. It had to be put to sleep too. We pulled the fence down straight away. It was a terrible freakish tragedy for a litter brother and sister.
“I have never heard anything like it ever happening. The rest of the litter are still with us and, when the time comes, will be rehomed through the ARC re-homing scheme.”
Two of the 66 pups surveyed sustained bad injuries in the rearing and were put to sleep by vets.
One was the dog pup from the Fabulous Journal litter.
Dave Firmager said: “It was very sad that he couldn’t be saved. Injuries are rare but when we get them and they require management, we bring them home ourselves rather than ask anyone else to home them. We have one at home at the moment.
Similarly, there was a dog pup from the Queen Charlotte litter who badly broke a leg when galloping as a youngster.
Rab McNair said: “Greyhound pups have a fabulous life, all together with the rest of the litter and they have great food and plenty of exercise and fresh air. But because they are so athletic and full of energy, you will get the occasional serious injury.
“The pup in the Charlotte litter was so young that we hadn’t even named him. He broke a foreleg and the vet recommended that it was in his best interests to put him to sleep.”
And the other dog in the litter?
“You mean King Stormzy? He had no interest in chasing and was homed by Brendan (Keogh) to a friend of his. He is a wealthy old boy who lives in a house with a huge garden. He sent me pictures and is already asking if we have another one available.”
Then there was the bitch from the Bockos Lass litter who was never registered for racing.
Dave Firmager said: “She was a lovely little thing but was only around 22 kilos so we decided to re-home her as a pet.”
Presumably, it was easy to re-home a pretty petite bitch?
Dave said: “Not really. We do get the odd one who is just a bit too small or a non-chaser – not that we see many of those at all these days – I think it is to do with the breeding. But unless they are GBGB registered, it is hard to find homes for them.”
In addition to training, John Mullins runs a successful rearing and re-homing operation near Ipswich.
He reared the Swift Molly litter including the sole pup who didn’t make the track.
John said: “’Don’ was never going to make it to the track. He has a few mental issues, he won’t even walk properly on the lead.
“He was bred by Nick and Emma Skeggs and he sleeps on their sofa. In fact, he is due back here next week when they go on holiday.
“We re-home all our ex-racers including those that aren’t fast enough for me. I don’t sell them to other kennels, I re-home them.
“The same goes for pups if they don’t make it. We’ve just finished rearing a litter. Eight of the nine are off schooling. But one of the dog pups, Boris, was attacked by the rest of the litter when he was younger.
“We are not even going to try him; we will re-home him straight away.”
As for the two Longwood Caddy pups, it transpires that they were sold at 12 weeks to a gent who sadly passed away.
It appears that his family had no interest in racing.
The pair were never registered for racing and are assumed to be household pets.
