Following a series of recent meetings with the Greyhound Stud Book and the National Coursing Club, the Greyhound Board of Britain (GBGB) is today announcing that it is developing its own registration system for British-bred greyhounds.

Commenting on this decision, GBGB Chief Executive, Mark Bird, said:

“We met with the Stud Book yesterday and outlined the continued problems people were experiencing with receiving registration documentation and the general lack of communication from the Stud Book.

“Liz Mort (Keeper of the Stud Book) has assured us that she is now able to clear the backlog of work that she has in terms of registrations, transfers, and earmarking, which will be good news to those who are awaiting a response.

“However, whilst we welcome this commitment, due to the ongoing complaints and frustrations that have been made to us, and the associated welfare issues and costs to those involved with British breeding, the GBGB Board has decided that we will set up our own registration system to allow people the choice to continue to go through the Stud Book, or to come directly to the GBGB.

“By bringing registrations in-house, we aim to streamline the process and ensure that we can get puppies ready to race in a timely manner. It will also allow us greater oversight on the early months of our racing greyhounds’ lives, which will have a positive impact not only on welfare but on our ability to promote British breeding.

“We will still need some time to set up the right paperwork to enable us to record all the necessary details and I would ask owners, breeders, and trainers to bear with us. We will update people as soon as we can. In the meantime, we ask people to continue to contact the Stud Book.”

GBGB Owners Practitioner, Tony Brealey, who was also present at the meeting, said:

“I’ve received more communication on the subject of pup registration than any other subject from owners, so I’m pleased that Liz committed to being up to date quickly. Owners have been struggling for months; it’s been a difficult time, and we need to support owners in being able to process registration quickly.

“The revised system of being able to register pups with the GBGB is the way forward and will also help with the digitization drive, allowing at some point in the future to do this all online. Hopefully, this will help us to promote British breeding by taking away a barrier.”