The trap draws open. The long, slender bodies of the greyhounds bolt out in pursuit of the taunting, mechanical hare as a thunderous cheer erupts from the roaring crowd. But over the years, that roar has gotten quieter. Dog racing, once a form of public entertainment more popular than the cinema, is on its last legs.

Dog racing, once a form of public entertainment more popular than the cinema, is on its last legs

‘At one time in the UK it was the second-most popular sport behind football,’ said Greg Cruttwell, director of a documentary film on the sport, Going to the Dogs. ‘It has a unique place in British sporting history and culture. In its time, when there were tracks all around the country, it played a very important part in community life.’

Greyhounds are among the first dog breeds mentioned in English literature, listed among the monk’s possessions in the Canterbury Tales. But it wasn’t until the 1920s that dog racing as we know it came to be. That was when a keen-eyed American socialite named Charles Munn, noticing the British fondness for a pastime named ‘coursing’ (watching dogs sprint after hares), introduced audiences to the mechanical hare. The first greyhound races were held in Manchester in 1926, taking the spot once held by horse races, which were........

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