“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)

“[The Virtual Coursing Museum] dovetails so nicely with some of the goals of our podcast…”

John Parker, on the announcement of the Virtual Coursing Museum by the National Coursing Club in Great Britain

For the 50th episode of the Greyhound Nation podcast, we have the unique privilege of announcing the opening of the Virtual Coursing Museum by the National Coursing Club on June 24, 2025. The website is open to anyone interested in learning more about the sport of coursing and the Greyhound breed. It features video interviews, historic photographs, artwork, and more. It captures the rich history and heritage of coursing and the Greyhound in Great Britain.

The museum is the brainchild of former Waterloo Cup chairman, David Midwood and historian and author, Charlie Blanning. In fact, the museum can be considered an extension of Charlie’s The Greyhound and the Hare, published in 2018. Additionally, both David and Charlie felt an urgency to document and preserve the history of the sport, including photographs of trophies and memorabilia, anecdotes and interviews from its most famous characters, and a catalog of coursing- and Greyhound-related artwork.

In this episode, host John Parker sits down with David and Charlie to talk about an idea that became reality — the Virtual Coursing Museum. John explores the process by which the museum came to be, including all the work involved in cataloging its contents. David and Charlie also reminisce about some of the people most associated with the sport of coursing and Greyhounds in Great Britain, such as Sir Mark Prescott and the late Peter Sant.

• The Virtual Coursing Museum (Website)
• The National Coursing Club and Greyhound Stud Book (Website)
• The Greyhound and the Hare (Facebook)

”If someone has a giant nose, you’re not going to cut off their nose…”

Dr. Guillermo Couto on why he chose to focus his career on Greyhounds and their unique physiology and health characteristics

Dr. Guillermo Couto’s veterinary career started in the 1970s in Buenos Ares, Argentina. He started with a small practice across the street from his parents. Five years later, he became board certified in veterinary internal medicine and oncology at the University of California, Davis. In the 1980s, he started a thirty year career at The Ohio State University where he made a name for himself as the foremost expert and researcher in Greyhound hematology and oncology.

That focus on Greyhounds started 30 years ago when Dr. Couto adopted his first Greyhound. He was intrigued by the unique physiology of the breed, and he sought answers to questions about Greyhound health that other veterinarians and researchers might have dismissed as abnormalities. In 2013, Dr. Couto retired from teaching and founded the Greyhound Health Initiative (GHI) to further explore the internal medicine and oncology landscape of the breed.

Meanwhile, Mandy Albert started her veterinary career as a registered vet technician in 2004. Two years after Dr. Couto founded GHI, Mandy joined the organization to help establish its canine blood bank. Together, they have expanded the GHI well beyond its canine blood bank. The organization’s current initiatives include Greyhound and sighthound research, education and outreach, advocacy for retired racing Greyhounds and collaboration with veterinary professionals.

In this episode, host John Parker sits down with Dr. Couto and Mandy to explore the doctor’s career, the origins of the Greyhound Health Initiative, and the contributions that both professionals have made and continue to make to the well-being of the Greyhound. It’s an exciting hour of discussion about everything from Greyhound blood factors to osteosarcoma to the cutting edge of Greyhound orthopedic research.

• Greyhound Health Initiative (Website)
• Greyhound Health Initiative – Videos (Website)
• Couto Veterinary Consultants (Website)

“I’ve never screamed so loud. The bug had bit. I had a tremendous passion for it.”

David Peck on watching his first Greyhound nearly win a stakes race at Victoryland

David Peck started out training bird dogs in the early 1970s. One of his clients was a friend who became involved in the new parimutuel racing in Texas. He visited David and recommended that he try his hand in training Greyhounds based on his success with bird dogs. Greyhounds gave David “renewed energy and lit me up.”

David started out with two pups, and he started training them like his bird dogs. His methodology worked, and one of those first Greyhounds became a top competitor at the Victoryland Greyhound track in Alabama. During one of his summer bird dog training sessions, he was called away to cheer on his Greyhound at a final stakes race. That hound took second place, just barely beaten at the wire. It was the start of an American Greyhound racing career that lasted well into the 2010s.

After founding Clear the Way (CTW) Kennels, David continued to improve his training methods. In particular, he focused on track design and surfaces. He encouraged American dog tracks to adopt Australian-style track design to improve the overall footing and safety for racing Greyhounds.

In this episode, host John Parker talks with David about his decades of dog training — bird dogs, American racing Greyhounds, and — now — Belgian Malinois. David shares his experiences with both training and breeding Greyhounds, describing the differences and similarities between the breeds with which he’s worked. He also talks about how he worked to make Greyhound racing safer and keep the sport alive.

• Victoryland Dog Track (Wikipedia)
• Greyhound Adoption League of Texas (Website)

“With the loss of any sport or pastime, it’s the people you miss in the end…”

Sir Mark Prescott on the people he met over four decades of coursing

Every sport has its share of characters — the people that influenced and shaped the sport, for better or worse. Babe Ruth. Lester Piggot. Hank Aaron. Sterling Moss. Michael Jordan. Caitlin Clark. Eric Liddell. David Beckham. Mike Krzyzewski. Bobby Knight. Billie Jean King. Depending on your perspective, these names can elicit a variety of emotions and memories of your favorite sport.

The world of Greyhound coursing has its own cavalcade of characters who left their own mark or legacy on the sport. Historical figures like Colonel North and Edward Dent influenced the glory days of the sport. Lord Sefton, while influential, left artifacts and records of the Waterloo Cup to be burned and abandoned after his passing.

Then there are the memorable judges, owners and trainers that left their mark on the sport of coursing. Jack Chadwick judged meetings from atop a horse with a permanently outstretched leg. Owner Lilah Shennen delivered both criticism and support of the sport and its organizers over the years. Harry Skinner made contributions to the sport in the design of the fields and courses to be run.

In this episode, host John Parker sits down with his own favorite coursing characters — Charlie Blanning and Sir Mark Prescott — to talk about the larger community of coursing’s beloved and not so beloved. Their discussion covers the gamut of historical figures to coursing’s contemporaries right up until the last Waterloo Cup.

• The Greyhound and the Hare (Facebook)
• Heath House Stables (Website)

This episode is dedicated to Michael’s Greyhound, Raleigh (fka Mr. Bates), 3/2/2016 – 12/13/2024. Raleigh was one of ten puppies in the Dublin and Kell’s Casino litter from 2016. This was a hobby bred litter courtesy of John Parker. If you’d like to learn more about Greyhound hobby breeding, listen to our fifth episode — the Hobby Breeder Roundtable.