The decline in Irish breeding continues after figures from the Irish Coursing Club show 2,344 litters were registered in 2018, a fall of 97 (4.1%) on the previous year. Over the last decade, breeding has fallen by 55% – writes Floyd Amphlett.
There were 13,327 ‘namings’, a figure of interest given GBGB’s announcement yesterday that they registered 7,392 greyhounds.
The ‘approx’ 6,000 difference between the two (they are not exact chronological matches) is inevitably and dishonestly pounced on as a source of ‘missing dogs’ among the greyhound antis.
However, that figure would include all coursing greyhounds, racing greyhounds who spend their entire careers in Ireland, unraced brood bitches, dogs who die in from accident or illness between naming and racing, pups who are exported to race elsewhere including the UK independent tracks, and of course, the very small percentage who don’t make the track.
Droopys Jet was once again the most popular stud dog with 140 litters. Laughil Blake (126) and Taylors Sky (119) were the only other stud dogs to produce more than 100 litters.
