a great sport in London and its suburbs, the principal handicaps being run off every 

 other Sunday forenoons at Walthamstow. Whippet racing was patronized by the late 

 King Edward VII of England, at the Ranelagh Club grounds, London, and the leading 

 ''country club" of its kind in the United Kingdom. Whippet racing has long been a 

 sport in Belgium, France and Germany. Dog racing was also introduced into South 

 Africa during the end of the last century, and valuable handicaps are run off on the 

 diamond and gold fields. Whippet racing was first favored in the United States by 

 the English operatives in the cotton mills in New England, especially in Massachusetts. 

 The sport has been well and continuously conducted at country clubs around Boston 

 and Philadelphia, which has put the pastime on a society basis. There is no cruelty 

 in whippet racing. The dog is held on his made by the neck and root of tail, and, 

 starting off at pistol fire, the object of his run of 200 yards or less being a towel held 

 by the runner-up usually someone he knows who stands, holloas and waves the 

 "rag," as it is called, 10 yards beyond the winning line or mark. The dogs are handi- 

 capped according to their weight or height. The latter is not a popular mode and it is 

 the weight of a dog that is considered practically everywhere. Roughly, it can be 

 reckoned that a dog of say 16 pounds is 2i^ to 3 yards faster than a 15-pound dog. A 

 bitch is keener than a dog. The handicap scale given in this description of the whippet 

 was arranged by Freeman Lloyd and is largely in use throughout the world. 





Finish in an Old-time Whippet Race Meeting 



A whippet track may be easily laid out on grass, race track, show or fair ground. 

 It must be 220 yards straight. If it is over, so much the better. The further the 

 onlookers are kept off the track the more they can see, and they will not interfere with 

 the dogs running. The whippets are entered, their names, weights, colors and owners 

 being given. Each owner pays an entry fee for each dog and these fees are generally 

 made a sweepstake and the purse divided between the first, second and third dogs in 

 the final heat. The dogs must be weighed before they run and an allowance is made 

 of 4 ounces or 8 ounces either way in their stated weight. The handicap is run off in 

 heats, the number of dogs in each heat varying according to the entry and the duration 

 of the racing. Heats may be run off like clockwork, one lot of dogs starting off as the 

 others are finishing; or it may 'be delayed when the number of dogs is limited. If 40 

 dogs are entered and an afternoon's sport desired they can be run off in heats of four 

 dogs each. There would be then 10 winners of heats to run off in the semi-finals, 

 which could be either two heats of five each or, better still, three heats with two fours 

 and one of three dogs. The two winners, or the three winners of the semi-finals, must 

 be run off in the final. Taking the three semi-finals for choice, there would be run off 

 altogether 14 races, which would occupy about two hours. The owner of the second 

 may challenge the weight of the winner, immediately after the final is run. The dog 

 is then allowed 6 ounces to the usual allowance made before the running of its first 

 heat. 



[126] 



