It was so close to the Everglades that the owners employed a snake catcher to snag stray reptiles. The first successful track, the Miami Kennel Club, was one Smith and his partners opened in 1922 in a swampy Florida locale known as Humbuggus. Photograph courtesy of Derby Lane Archives In 1950, thousands of fans would gather at Derby Lane to watch the races from the grandstands. It failed, as did several others, because it didn’t allow betting. Smith and two partners also designed the first modern greyhound track, the Blue Star Amusement Company, which opened in 1919 outside Oakland, California. “Nobody in the history of any sport brought about a change comparable to that worked by the inventor of the device, and yet no inventor in sports history is so little known,” Sports Illustrated commented in 1973. In 1910 he secured a patent for what he called the Inanimate Hare Conveyor.
Smith’s idea was to replace the live rabbit with a mechanical one. Smith, who was moved by the grim deaths of the rabbits to come up with an alternative. Queen Elizabeth I loved it-hence greyhound racing’s nickname, the “sport of queens.”ĭog racing as we know it today originated with an American inventor named Owen P.
The King James Version of Proverbs 30:29-31 cites them as “comely in going.” (Scholars say the original Hebrew refers to Afghan hounds or salukis.) The king’s translators knew about greyhounds because of a then popular sport called coursing, in which two greyhounds race to catch a rabbit. Winning says greyhounds are the only dog breed in the Bible. By the end of 2020, it was down to three, with about 2,000 dogs still racing. Two years earlier, Florida had more greyhound tracks than any other state-11 out of 17 nationwide.
Joe DiMaggio once left Marilyn Monroe in an idling car while he ran inside to place his bets.ĭerby Lane was America’s oldest continuously operating greyhound racetrack, but in December 2020 it headed for its final stretch. Babe Ruth and entertainer Sophie Tucker were visitors. Back then, the stands would be packed with fans in suits and hats. Back when the dogs were running last year, you could still get a hint of the glamour and excitement of the track’s glory days in the 20th century. Their paws toss sand in the air as they gallop around the oval for 30 seconds, hitting speeds of up to 45 miles an hour.ĭerby Lane, which opened in 1925, was once hailed as the Churchill Downs of greyhound racing. The doors fly open, and the greyhounds burst onto the track in a blur of acceleration. A mechanical rabbit named Hare-son Hare zooms past, squeaking and shooting blue sparks. Next, Davis, 41, and the eight handlers he supervises put the dogs in the starting box.
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