When does a greyhound officially become a "VETERAN" ?

4 year old as far as i'm aware, don't hold me to that though

Think it is 4 too. Well, Boher Paddy won a veteran race recently and he's an Oct '08 whelp anyway

Irish,the convention is that a dog is a veteran when it reaches 4yrs and most tracks follow this.Incredibly there is no actual GBGB rule that "officially" lays down when a dog is a veteran ,so the age stipulation is set by the track staging the race and most,but not all follow the 4yrs rule of thumb.
Also if we are going to be PC ,they are now called seniors not veterans.Nice to see someone at the GBGB earned his wages when they altered that.

4, but sky have bent the rules a few times on their veterans races

i asked len goodwin and he said seveeeeeen...........ok sorry for that.......agree with 4 although also believe greyhounds are in their prime at 3 so it shows what a short career they have.....

many moons ago
saw a dog run a stormer in an a1 rommers and then was out the next week at
canterbury in a veterans open

went ready to have a fair bet only to find out was a n/r
spoke to peter rich at the track he said it had to be pulled out because was a few
days short of 4 years old

another wasted journey

I reckon the Greyhounds have ca 100 runs in them if they stay fairly sound. I don't think they peak at a particular age, but rather after a certain number of races. I think they could race for longer if they were more lightly raced.

Nov 24, 2012 -- 2:49PM, Winja wrote:

i asked len goodwin and he said seveeeeeen...........ok sorry for that.......agree with 4 although also believe greyhounds are in their prime at 3 so it shows what a short career they have.....

ffs winja there's no escape, my mrs watches that carp week in week out and now you're on about it

Can you believe it comes on here slagging comentators off etc, yet he don't know when a greyhound becomes a veteran. You could'nt make it up!

yes Green Pride  the SIS commentary remains very poor....

... and the reason I asked about the veterans as there is no official ruling as far as i can see and required confirmation, some think its over 100 races and as hectoratora said "Incredibly there is no actual GBGB rule that "officially" lays down when a dog is a veteran ,so the age stipulation is set by the track staging the race and most,but not all follow the 4yrs rule of thumb".

.... meanwhile the SIS comms are cr4pp in comparison to Paul Cassel, Ozzie and Dogrobber, but don't take it from me just read the torrent of complaints throughout this forum since SIS tookover !

... now run along back under cover, unless you really want to come out to play

It's got nothing to do with the amount of races the dog as had. It becomes a veteran at four years old. A pup is no longer a pup when it as had turned two years of age. The amount of races it as had is Irrelevant. Two enter a dog for a veterans open you gave to be a least four years old. I dont know about coming out to play im to be be busy checking the rule book.

Well I googled "When is a greyhound a veteran" and it came back with "To thank U.S. Military Veterans, Active Duty military, National Guard & Reserve and their families for their service, Greyhound is proud to provide Veterans Advantage ® members a 20% discount on walkup fares nationwide, at the terminals or online."

So there is definitely a little confusion

Rule 81
xiii Any special conditions of entry required or approved by the GBGB. (e.g. published conditions for any Race for veteran Greyhounds shall make it clear that a requirement of acceptance is that a Greyhound has recent Race form).

I believe it's up to the track to decide what age it wants for it's seniors races.  They can also have puppy races for dogs that are, say, under 20 months old.

Just to clear it up once and for all. A track can put on a race for 5 year-olds or 6 year olds if they get it cleared by the GBGB. But The fact remains a geryhoud becomes a veteran when its 4-years-old.

Seems Irish has swallowed a rulebook!

What is your source for your statement, Green Pride ?  The GBGB rules only specifies the age for puppies not seniors/veterans.

I can see where your coming from Woodmanchester. Veteran races are few and far between these days. It was a big thing in the early days of the sport when Harringay you to stage The Veterans Derby (the biggest race of the year for the old greybeards). The stipulation for that race and other veteran races was that the greyhound had to be four-years-old or over.