To the Dogs
SIR,—Your contributor Alastair Macdonald, in his article on greyhound racing, has drawn certain conclusions which, quite frankly, are not in accord- ance with facts.
Firstly, I am most surprised that he has not drawn attention to the distinction between those greyhound racecourses which race under the rules of the National Greyhound Racing Club and which arc members of this society, and the non-member race- courses. All racecourses in membership of this society are governed by the strict rules of both the club and the society. Dog races are not 'rigged,' as intimated by your correspondent, and, in this connection, I would point out _that greyhound racing is to the forefront •of all sports in the detec- tion of drugs administered to racing greyhounds by the use of the thin-layer chromatography method devised in conjunction with Glasgow University, whereby it is possible to ascertain whether a sample is positive or negative within twenty minutes.
Secondly, all officials concerned with the racing side of the sport arc licensed by the National Grey hound Racing Club and most certainly there is no
question of the speed of the hare being interfered with in any way so as to affect the running of. a greyhound.
Thirdly, your correspondent is completely wrong in saying that 90 per cent of the patrons to grey- hound racing choose the cheaper enclosures. Over the past few years, there has been a distinct increase in the attendances of the middle and dear en- closures at the expense of the cheaper enclosures and statistics show that no more than 50 per cent now choose the cheap enclosures.
Fourthly, your correspondent fails to recognise that ,greyhound racing is still the second largest spectator sport in the country (football being the largest), and should not be dazzled by the postwar boom, which was a completely false one, having regard to the economic circumstances then apper- taining.
For an owner, your correspondent shows a lamentable lack of knowledge concerning greyhound racing and, possibly, it would be to his advantage if he were to improve this by contacting the control- Secretary The National Greyhound Racing Society of Great Britain. I Jermyn Street. SW I
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