Dog racing returns to Galveston County with an uncertain future

LA MARQUE - The fourth of 10 dog races was about to begin at Gulf Greyhound Park. Eight greyhounds - lithe, muscular, and muzzled - walked across the track in plain sight of the spectators, most of whom evaluated the group through an enormous window sitting in their teal-colored seats out of the frigid temperatures Thursday.

The aroma of burgers, hot dogs, and French fries wafted through the main concourse. Children ran around the outdoor bleachers as the dogs loped along to the starting box.

It was the first night of live dog races at Gulf Greyhound Park in two years, an occasion not without controversy, but that didn't stop the sparse crowd of gamblers, die-hard racing fans and casual observers from placing $2 bets, sipping cheap cans of beer and enjoying the steady gallop of eight greyhounds chasing a mechanical rabbit named Marky.

The only science to picking a winning dog, most spectators say, is that there is no science.

"I won $1,000 once yelling four random dogs [to the teller] as soon as I walked in," said Shanleigh Dixon, taking in the race with her husband, Mickey, as their two young daughters ran laps around the outdoor bleachers. "You can go up there and make a 10-cent bet. As long as you bet the right order, you could win $80."

Boyd Mallia, a spectacled man wearing a weathered gray ballcap with a "Batman" logo emblazoned on the front, scanned the tip sheets with a friend, Stephen Bernard, looking for any angle to bet on a dog, be it odds or track record. But even he conceded it's one big guessing game.

"I think my father told me, never bet on a white dog or something goofy like that," Mallia said. "Some people won't bet on certain color dogs. A lot of people will bet by the names, that kind of stuff. I like the dogs that are darker. They look faster."

Right on cue, Mallia's father, Gene Perry sidles up to their table. When Gulf Greyhound hosted live racing regularly, Perry spent four or five years as a "betting buddy" for the track, helping bettors with their strategy. Perry is unsentimental about the return of live dog racing in La Marque. Like any good gambler, he cares mostly about the bottom line.

"Doesn't matter to me," Perry said. "My best night was a $6,000 win but I was [betting on] simulcast then."

'Tickled by the crowd'

The race began and the dogs bolted out of the starting box with ferocious speed, dirt flying in the air from their almost robotic, cheetah-like strides around the 550-yard track.

For Sally Briggs, the general manager of Gulf Greyhound Park, the light crowds Thursday were secondary to the renewed optimism for the return of live dog racing to La Marque.

"I don't know what the count is yet, but I'm real tickled by the crowd," Briggs said. "I think Saturday night will even be better, the weather's supposed to be a little bit better.

At its peak some 20 years ago, Gulf Greyhound had live racing nearly every night. But now, owing to a complicated agreement with the Texas Racing Commission, the three tracks in the state - including one each in Corpus Christi and Harlingen - have rotated live racing responsibilities since 2016 in order to maintain their contract for simulcasting races out of state. The simulcasting allows gamblers to place bets on dog and horse races at other tracks.

The Gulf Greyhound live racing program runs through Feb. 24, with 36 races over that period.

Spectators at the track overwhelmingly preferred the live race to the simulcast, both for entertainment and betting purposes, but the future of live racing at Gulf Greyhound is very much up in the air.

David Peck, the president of the Texas Greyhound Association, the official greyhound registry for the state that represents owners, breeders and other greyhound racing participants, has accused the Gulf Greyhound Park with reneging on the agreement with the Texas Racing Commission, in part because the park has allowed out-of-state breeders and kennels to participate in its races. The agreement negotiated by the state and the three race tracks requires all of the breeders and participants to be based in Texas.

"We just want to work together in cooperation with the race track to best benefit our breeders and benefit the dogs," Peck said. That's all we're after, and to keep our breeders alive. It's got to be safe and it's got to benefit the breeders and unfortunately, we haven't been able to get to first base. [Gulf Greyhound] runs it the way they want to and we don't feel that's what we agreed to."

Briggs said that Gulf Greyhound requires at least 40 percent of its active greyhounds to be Texas-bred.

"We try to run Texas-bred dogs, dogs born and raised at farms in Texas, and we do have six kennels, four of them have farms in Texas," Briggs said.

Safety concerns

Track and dog safety is also an issue for a sport that has long been denounced by animal rights organizations as inhumane. During the final year of racing at Gulf Greyhound, 213 greyhound injuries were reported to the state, including 57 dogs that suffered broken bones and nine dogs that died, according to a database of state records kept by Grey2K, an organization dedicated to passing stronger greyhound protection laws and ending dog racing.

Carey Theil, the executive director of Grey2K, also noted that Valley Race Park in Harlingen had 22 injuries in their short live racing program last year. Theil believes that the overhead costs of live dog racing will ultimately be unsustainable.

"I know there were a number of injuries at Valley during the last racing meet and we're going to see that again, there's no doubt," Theil said. "What we have are greyhounds living in cages for 20 hours a day, greyhounds suffering injuries on the track for something that's not economically viable."

But while Briggs agreed that the labor costs make it more difficult to maintain a regular live racing program, she pointed to safeguards put in place to make sure dogs get the treatment they need.

"We take care of the dogs. I have two vets here right now every time we run live," Briggs said. "If a dog goes down or gets hurt they're here to treat them immediately. They also make sure the dogs have all the shots they need before they can even turn in their papers to run."

'What they're bred to do'

For one night at least, most of the spectators are blissfully ignorant to the complicated politics of live dog racing in Texas.

Brooke Betancourt sat in the front row of the outdoor bleachers before the eighth race of the night, her pet greyhound, Keelan, a handsome black greyhound with flecks of gray around his snout, glued to her side. Betancourt made the long trek from Fayetteville, N.C., where she works for an organization called Project Racing Home, a facility for the adoption placement of retired racing greyhounds.

She views the arguments against live racing as one that defies the dogs' natural instincts and jeopardizes their long-term survival.

"Without greyhound racing, there's no greyhounds," Betancourt said. "This is what they're bred to do."

Keelan whimpers and fidgets, his eyes are fixed on the track.

"I can't tell you how many people come up to me and say, 'Oh, thank God, you saved him,'" Betancourt said. "I always say he has retired - he's not rescued. Because clearly he would go out there again and race if I would let him."