“Not only did you have the working class, if you like, after work, but also you had Lord this and Lady that in the club having dinner in black tie, and of course everyone else was milling around at the stadium having a bet. So it suited everyone.”

Charlie Blanning, author and historian, on the class-crossing nature of the sport during the British Golden Age of racing

Traditional anniversaries have gift recommendations up to the 60th — the diamond anniversary — but what do you give for a 100th? In the case of British Greyhound racing, you sit down with the sport’s foremost historian — author Charlie Blanning — and trace a century of the sport from its improbable American origins to the grandeur of White City and Wembley.

Charlie’s book — Please Mister: The Golden Age of Greyhound Racing — serves as a starting point in the story of British Greyhound racing, chronicling how Owen Patrick “O.P.” Smith’s oval track concept crossed the Atlantic. In the summer of 1926, rainy Manchester served as the venue for the sport’s first English race. It would grow into a sport that drew crowds of over 100,000 to a single Greyhound Derby final.

In this episode, host John Parker sits down with Charlie to discuss the founding figures behind British Greyhound racing, Golden Age hounds and trainers, and the rise of high-society track culture at White City and Wembley. Charlie also shares his candid views on the sport’s precarious future.

“When the sport goes, the breed will go with it.”

• The Greyhound and the Hare (Facebook)
• Please Mister: The Golden Age of Greyhound Racing (eBay UK)

“We take these dogs out of pain. They’re miserable. We get them back to normal happy dogs.”

Dr. Mike Guilliard on the impact of Greyhound corn surgery

If your Greyhound has every suddenly and mysteriously gone lame — unable to walk or lifting a paw — there’s a good chance it’s due to a corn in their one of their pads. These keratinous growths are often misdiagnosed, leaving a Greyhound or other sighthound breed in pain and discomfort when walking on a firm surface.

Enter English veterinary surgeon and Greyhound corn specialist, Dr. Mike Guilliard. Since earning his veterinary degree from the University of Cambridge Veterinary School in 1972, Dr. Guilliard has spent over 50 years in surgical practice and consultation. Early in his career, his senior partner owned a Greyhound, and Dr. Guilliard found himself studying the anatomy and orthopedics of the Greyhound. He has authored research papers and developed orthopedic treatments for many athletic dog ailments, but none may be more beneficial to Greyhounds and sighthounds than his surgical techniques for treating corns.

In this episode, host John Parker sits down with Dr. Guilliard to discuss the tendonectomy or tenotomy and its impact on Greyhound and sighthound health and happiness over the years. Dr. Guilliard shares his 2025 Greyhounds in Gettysburg presentation on the topic, offering viewers and listeners a deep dive into the development of a welcome solution for lameness and discomfort for so many breeds.

• Dr. Mike Guilliard Orthopaedics Ltd (Website)
• Veterinary Practice News, Canada (Article)
• 2025 Greyhounds in Gettysburg Presentation (PDF)

“One of the things that really struck me…the car park was the most egalitarian place in all of England…”

Harry Jennings on the “great leveler” of the Waterloo Cup

Many first-time Greyhound adopters will tell you that they didn’t grow up with Greyhounds as kids. Their interest in the breed started with a meet-and-greet at a local rehoming event, or they had a friend or relative that had adopted a Greyhound. Harry Jennings didn’t grow up with Greyhounds either, but he did become interested in them in quite a peculiar way.

He discovered the breed in graduate school while thumbing through medieval French literature manuscripts about coursing.

Harry’s first Greyhound — Charlie — actually belonged to his housemate, Lauren, but it was his gateway Greyhound into the vast and varied world of the breed. Charlie had an Australian pedigree, having raced in Florida and been adopted out of the Philadelphia area. Harry and Charlie took to the road to try out lure coursing in 1992. By 1993, Charlie was the number one Greyhound in ASFA lure coursing.

The making of the Jennings Greyhound man continued with ownership of American racing Greyhounds and a visit to the Waterloo Cup in England in 1999. There, he crossed paths with this show’s host, John Parker, and together they experienced the premier coursing event in the world at the time. There on the field, the two “Yanks” and a few other American friends found themselves before the microphone of English television presenter Clarissa Dickson Wright as part of her Clarissa and the Countryman series.

In this episode, host John Parker explores this unconventional making of a Greyhound man — Harry Jennings — one who immersed himself in all things Greyhound-related over three decades. Harry shares his thoughts on training and conditioning for lure coursing; navigating the ins and outs of Greyhound racing organizations in the United States and England; and remotely participating in the sport of Greyhound racing through the syndicate model.

• Waterloo Cup episode of Clarissa and the Countryman (YouTube)