Tracing Your Dog's Racing History

Here are details on how to find out more about your dog's race history. This information only applies to dogs bred and/or raced in Ireland and England (sorry to those of you from across the pond!).

Depending on where you get your dog from, you may be given some of this information at the time of adoption.

  1. Phone the Irish Coursing Club (00353 5222611) or the UK Stud Book (01638 667381) with details of your dogs ear tattoos. They will be able to tell you your dogs racing name, whelp date, and the names of both parents over the phone. Both organisations should have these details on any dog that has raced in the UK, but this may depend on when and where the dog was first registered. If it is an Irish dog (tattoos in both ears) I would start with the ICC first.
  2. Once you have a racing name, go to Greyhound-Data and do a search by typing in the racing name. This will show you a five-generation pedigree. If your dog's name is not known at the site, try searching for the pedigrees of his sire and dam. You can then add your own dog to the database and include a contact e-mail address.
  3. If your dog ran in England then call the National Greyhound Racing Club with information on his colour, sex, and tattoos, and they may be able to help you find a copy of his original race book. If they do not have his race book they may be able to direct you to the person who does.

    Sadly this information is usually only kept for a couple of years after a dog retires, so if you dog hasn't raced for a while it may not be available.

    The NGRC can be contacted at:

    Licensing and Registration Department,
    NGRC
    Twyman House
    16 Bonny Street
    London NW1 9QD
    Tel: 0207 267 9256

    If you do get hold of a copy of your dog's race book this will detail all of the races he ever ran in. What all of the information in the race book actually means is explained here, including a sample of what a race book looks like.

  4. From the race book you can then pick a few of your dogs best races, and contact Barbara at Greyhound Videos (0208 422 6355). She will make you a personalised video of your dog's races for approximately £4 per race. In my opinion this is well worth it, as I love watching my boys in action. It is quite surreal to hear people cheering for the dog that now spends all of his time snoozing on your sofa! They have races going back nearly ten years at some tracks, so don't be put off if it is a while since your dog last ran. The tracks covered include; Walthamstow, Wimbledon, Wembley, Hackney, Catford, Rye House, Harlow and Henlow.

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Information contained herein is provided 'as is'. No warranty is given or implied. It is based on my personal experience, and that of others to which I can personally attest. However, dogs are individuals, and what works for one may not work for another.

© 2000-2012, Fiona Moore. Please feel free to copy and distribute for personal and non-profit use, but please acknowledge the authorship and source. If this information is to be published on a web site, please include a link to this site. Thank you.

The proper address of this site for acknowledgements and links is http://www.fionas-fastdogs.com/

The original location of this page was http://www.truffy.com/fastdogs/care/general/history.php