The greyhound

The era of greyhound racing in the U.S. is coming to an end, wrote the National Geographic in its October 2020 issue. Photos are from the article.

Next time to Florida, there would be one less attraction, not that I’ve attended the dog racing before. The famed Derby Lane is closing down at the end of this year. The last race is on December 27, five years short of its centennial.

Greyhound is a handsome and masculine dog. 64 years old Derby Lane CEO, with an appropriate last name, Richard Winning says “It’s a shame to have to shut down after 95 years.” May he write a book about it after the closure? After all, it was his great-grandfather T.L Weaver stepped in to save the venue in 1925, when the initial partners ran out of money. There are a few states in the US that still have the race, and a few countries such as UK, Aussie, Ireland, New Zealand, Mexico and Vietnam.

But no worry, “Farmer remains hopeful that he can use his Native American heritage as a way to save racing in Florida. He’s got a plan to convince either the Seminole or the Miccosukee tribes to acquire a track that would operate in conjunction with one of their casinos and thus be exempt from state or federal regulation. That would, he said, “build a tradition.” So far, though, the tribes have expressed no interest.”