Last Scottish greyhound track owner: Racing died by a thousand cuts
'She would amble round the first lap at Romford then gather a head of steam and win. It was exciting to watch.'
In time the thrill of the chase extended to Brignal scouring the UK for a track he could call his own. He looked at Chesterfield, Ellesmere Port and Belle Vue near Manchester. By 2002 Thornton, a six-acre course north of Kirkcaldy in Fife, was on the market and open to offers.
Twice a week – on a Wednesday and a Saturday – punters turned up to watch races held over 100, 300, 500, and 680 yards. While it was never a path to riches, the track managed to pay its way.
'We used to have 300 people turn up on a Saturday night and 200 on a Wednesday,' Brignal recalls.
'The bar would be packed because in those days there was no smoking ban.
'So the pub would be heaving on a Saturday night and we would do karaoke afterwards.
'It was great fun until the smoking ban halved the bar takings overnight.
'Punters stayed outside instead of coming in and drinking.
'And then the 2005 Betting Act basically ramped up all the bookmakers' fees.
'So we went from seven bookmakers all paying a pitch rent to two.
'And because of that the prize money for winners went from being really quite good to being a pittance.
'The trainers just gave up in the end. It was death by a thousand cuts.'
In March, Brignal closed the track until further notice. Problems finding a betting partner were one reason, while the other was the uncertainty created by a private member's bill due to be lodged by Green MSP Mark Ruskell this week proposing a ban on greyhound racing in Scotland.
'This ban talk has been rumbling on since 2019 and the Scottish Government can't seem to make a decision,' adds Brignal with barely concealed exasperation.
'I'd be surprised if the government banned it, but if they do then it's hardly a big deal now is it?
Scottish Green Party MSP Mark Ruskell poses with rescue greyhound Katie (Image: Getty)
'I mean, the way I feel now I've basically had enough anyway.
'I've made very little money out of the track in recent years.
'And if I've had enough then that's it for greyhound racing in Scotland.
'If someone wants to buy it and take over and licence it under the Greyhound Board of Great Britain [GBGB] then that's fine.
'But while this proposed ban is going through the Scottish Parliament no one is going to do it are they?'
Read more:
Why it's time to finally end the misery of greyhound racing
Bid to ban greyhound racing in Scotland takes 'milestone' step
The governing body for greyhound racing in the UK, the GBGB, oversees 20 venues from Brighton in the south to Sunderland in the north. Shawfield, on Glasgow's south side, was the last Scottish site to come under their control until the old place closed during the pandemic and never opened up again.
Responsible for regulating the welfare and care of racing greyhounds from registration to retirement the latest data revealed that 109 dogs died trackside in the UK in 2023. A further 4238 injuries were recorded.
A spokesperson for the Unbound the Greyhound coalition said the sport was a 'dying industry where dogs are nothing more than commodities in a gambling-led pastime''. The RSPCA has now teamed up with two other charities — the Dogs Trust and the Blue Cross — to call for an end to the pursuit in Scotland. In February the Welsh government announced a proposal to ban it completely and Ruskell has now lodged the Prohibition of Greyhound Racing (Scotland) Bill at Holyrood.
'Greyhound racing is a cruel sport that causes a huge amount of harm to dogs,' said the MSP, owner of his own greyhound. 'Far too many have been killed or badly injured on the tracks.
'There is no safe or humane way to force a group of dogs to run around an oval track at 40mph and it is totally wrong to make them do it in the name of profit.'
GBGB managing director Mark Bird believes greater regulation and safeguarding for greyhounds is a better alternative to prohibition. In a Herald poll conducted in February there were 16,118 responses, with 75 per cent opposing an outright ban in Scotland.
Ruskell's bill would jail anyone caught hosting greyhound racing for up to five years. Branding the legislation 'poorly drafted', Bird fears that a ban would drive dog racing underground, exposing greyhounds to more risk than they face now.
'There will be people who want to carry on racing greyhounds regardless,' said Brignal.
'And if they can't do that at an oval track or a licensed track then they are going to find other ways of doing it.
'There are pockets of the community up there who race greyhounds in fields.
'You can still stick an artificial hare on the back of a car and straight race in the middle of a farmer's field and not be breaking any law because this bill only refers to a ban in a 'track'.
'Invariably there will be no checks and balances in there. No vets or regulators and it will be left to over-worked, under-resourced police to deal with it.
'So be in no doubt, you will drive some of this underground.'
Lockdown tolled the final bell for regulated, licensed greyhound racing north of the border.
While Covid restrictions lifted, the padlocks at Shawfield never did. A run-down and dilapidated eye sore, the old place lapsed into terminal decline, with plans to develop housing and retail development on the site tangled up in environmental issues and red tape.
Introduced to these shores by American businessman Charles Munn in 1926, the best hope for greyhound racing in Scotland – if there is any – lies with increased regulation. Even then a track like Thornton would be unable to meet the cost of drug testing dogs, an on-site vet, building kennels and compiling a list of injuries and deaths. Holyrood is on the cusp of banning a sport which to all intents and purposes, is already gone.
'No one is going to buy the track and build the kennels required to satisfy the GBGB,' acknowledges owner Brignal.
'My feeling now is, 'it's just not working.'
'In the last set of accounts we lost £12,000, which isn't a fortune.
'But the Scottish Government have really driven greyhound racing into the ground over the years. It's relentless.
'Since 2019 I've been trying to defend a sport which nobody really listens to anymore. Maybe it's time to stop trying.'
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