A coursing judge scrutinized the hounds not for how fast they killed the rabbit, but by the amount of athleticism they exhibited in the process.Īmericans sometimes offered their own take on coursing. It traces its roots to the 17th century English pastime of coursing, in which two greyhounds chase after a rabbit. Greyhounds can reach speeds of 45 mph, so they were well bred for the game.
Greyhound racing is called the sport of queens, but it’s more like the sport of queens’ servants. They stop running and seem disappointed, but their mood buoys at the sight of their handlers, who come onto the track to corral the dogs and return them to the paddock. This scene has been repeated thousands of times in Derby Lane’s 89-year history, but it’s unknown how many more times it will be repeated at the landmark, considered the oldest of its kind in continuous operation. They complete about a lap and a half before Hareson is halted and jerked out of the dogs’ reach just before they catch up to it. The dogs gallop full speed in pursuit around the dirt oval, which measures 1,320 feet long and 21 feet wide. The starting box doors flip up, and the greyhounds burst toward the rail where the remote-controlled lure–a white fake rabbit appropriately named Hareson–zips around the turn.
I presented on this topic at the 2014 Society for Commercial Archeology conference in St.
