Greyhound Racing Association

Modern greyhound racing was effectively developed by Owen Patrick Smith, the chamber of commerce director in Hot Springs, South Dakota in the early years of the 20th century.Although it took some time for the concept to be fully developed and put into practice, by the 1920s, his greyhound racing tracks were spread across the USA and attracted thousands of visitors.The other directors were Robert Grant Jr., Francis Steward Gentle, F A Lumley, Henry Haworth Hardman and Charles A Munn.The North West of England was chosen to introduce the sport to the country, most likely hoping that the area's coursing tradition would make it attractive to the local population.Whilst Critchley and Munn were still directors of this new company, Lyne Dixson no longer featured and Gentle had been replaced by Major General, the Lord Loch, as chairman.Nonetheless, given the novelty of the sport the GRA, and the industry in general, was able to weather both this and the disruption brought about by World War II.[11] Presaged by the sale of the Harringay Arena in 1958, the company soon moved to support it share price in the face of falling attendance by focusing the market on the value of its property portfolio.In 1965 John Sutton became Managing Director and the GRA extended its board by adding Major Percy Brown, John Cearns (son of WJ Cearns) and Charles Chandler Jr. to the directors but sold the Kingsfurze breeding establishment at Naas in County Kildare, the seven acre grounds had been breeding greyhounds for over 17 years.[12] Foreseeing that industry rationalisation would be required, the company embarked on a strategy that would allow them to control this phase, buying up competing tracks.[15][16] The company survived in part through 1980s sale of a number of leading GRA venues, including White City, Slough, Shawfield, Harringay, and Powderhall.The following is a list of tracks that were not fully owned or operated by the Greyhound Racing Association, but which the GRA still held a financial stake in at some point during their history.[29][30][31] During October 2019 Clive Feltham's GRA Acquisition sold the lease they held on the remaining two stadiums Belle Vue [32] and Perry Barr to Arena Racing Company[33] bringing their stadia operations to an end.