Greyhound racing in Ireland

Greyhound racing is a popular sport in Ireland and is also mainly responsible for breeding the greyhounds that are sold to UK racing.

There are 19 current stadiums in Ireland (2 in Northern Ireland) of which ten are operated by the Bord na gCon (Irish Greyhound Board) with the remaining seven owned and operated by private enterprise but licensed by the Bord na gCon.

Most have modern facilities including grandstand restaurant's and Parimutuel betting tote system with on-course and off-course betting available.

The Bord na gCon is a commercial semi-state body and reports to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Greyhound racing as it is seen today evolved from a sport called coursing. In 1926 the oval form of racing arrived in Britain at Belle Vue Stadium in Manchester which resulted in the creation of hundreds of tracks all over the United Kingdom and Ireland in the following ten years.

The sport of greyhound racing in Ireland mainly takes place in the Republic of Ireland but also in Northern Ireland. However the tracks in Northern Ireland have always been in a state of limbo due to the fact that they are licensed neither by the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) nor the Bord na gCon.

To confuse matters even more the industry regards racing as either UK or Irish, the latter including Northern Ireland. The Irish Greyhound Board do provide all of the results from Northern Ireland.

The vast majority of greyhounds running in the UK are bred in Ireland.

There are many types of competitions in Ireland but the primary race is the Irish Greyhound Derby held at Shelbourne Park. Along with the English Greyhound Derby and Scottish Greyhound Derby they are considered the big three in greyhound racing.

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