Page 26 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW SPECIAL ISSUE 7 B

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 2 5

Netherlands

There is also evidence that sighthound racing took place in the Netherlands as early as
1880, but until around 1930 such races were occasional and not regular. The first
attempts to organise sighthound racing in the Netherlands were made by the Dutch
Hunters' Association ‘Nimrod’. At a meeting of this association on 28 June 1877, a
proposal by the executive committee to organise sighthound races was rejected because
it was considered ‘harmful to hunting’. At a subsequent meeting on 20 June 1878

however, such a proposal was accepted. Due to a lack of dogs and initial opposition, the
first “race” did not take place until 1 December 1880 in Velsen. Only 11 dogs participated.
Due to thick fog, poor terrain conditions and a lack of organisational experience, this
race was a failure.

It was not until June 1893 that a new attempt was made in Arnhem, on the occasion of an

international dog show. These were Whippet races over 200 yards with a handicap in
distance and weight. The lower the weight of the dog, the greater the head start it was
given. The heaviest dog weighed 11.1 kilograms and the lightest 7.5 kilograms. The
maximum handicap was 26 yards. An English Whippet won in a time of 12 seconds. In
1894, Whippet races took place in Haarlem, also in conjunction with an international dog
show and organised by Nimrod. The dogs ran two by two over a distance of 200 metres
on a grass track marked out with poles and ropes. The owners trotted ahead with a

white cloth to the finish line while handlers held the Whippets until they were allowed
to start. In England, this type of racing was known as rag racing.

It was not until after 1900, in 1908, that the Breda Kennel Club organised sighthound
races on the grounds of the Breda horse trotting track. The registration was significant
for that time: 16 greyhound males and the same number of females, 12 Borzois and 3

Sloughis. The international character was clearly present with dogs from Germany,
Belgium and the Netherlands. The races were run on a 30-metre wide track, over a
distance of 700 metres, on which four obstacles were placed in the form of three 1.5-
metre-high hedges and one 1.5-metre-wide ditch. Here too, the owners went to the
finish line in advance, attracting their dogs' attention with whistles, waving cloths etc.,
after which the dogs were released. There were separate prizes to be won for the
different races, with appropriate names such as Breda race or Sahara race.