Patterns of Racing and Career Duration of Racing Greyhounds in New Zealand
by
,
Anna L. Palmer
1,*, 
Charlotte F. Bolwell
1,
Kevin J. Stafford
2,
Arnon Gal
3 and
Chris W. Rogers
1,2 1
School of Veterinary Science, Massey University, Private Bag 11-222, 4442 Palmerston North, New Zealand
2
School of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Private Bag 11-222, 4442 Palmerston North, New Zealand
3
Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1008 W Hazelwood Drive, IL 61802, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Animals 2020, 10(5), 796; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10050796
Submission received: 3 March 2020
/
Revised: 20 April 2020
/
Accepted: 28 April 2020
/
Published: 5 May 2020
Simple Summary
There is limited information on the career length and patterns of racing for greyhounds. Performance outcomes, including number of racing starts, career length and the age at which greyhounds finish racing, provide insight into causes of attrition in the greyhound racing industry. To investigate trends in greyhound racing careers a baseline is required. This paper presents results from a retrospective cohort study exploring career duration and patterns of racing of greyhounds in New Zealand.
Abstract
The welfare and wastage of racing greyhounds is a topic of public concern. Little is published about the racing patterns of these dogs in New Zealand. The aim of this study is to describe the pattern of greyhound racing in New Zealand. Data on all race starts between 1 August 2011 and 25 March 2018 were supplied by Greyhound Racing New Zealand. A cohort was created containing dogs that had a racing career between 1 August 2013 and 31 July 2017. Data were collated within a customized Microsoft Access database from electronic records of all racing starts for every dog within the 2013–2016 racing seasons. For this cohort of racing dogs, there were 97,973 race starts across 22,277 races involving 2393 individual greyhounds. The median number of days between racing starts was 7 days (inter-quartile range (IQR): 4–10 days). The median career length was 424 days (IQR: 206–647 days) and the median number of racing starts throughout a racing career was 35 (IQR: 16–59 starts). Dogs of similar ability finished their career at a similar age.
Keywords:
greyhound; greyhound racing; career length; racing pattern
