Dog gone: Greyhound racing comes to an end in Florida

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Ewart Johnson, an 80-year-old West Palm Beach resident, was a bit melancholy Thursday afternoon as he scrutinized his racing form at the Palm Beach Kennel Club.

It was the last day greyhound racing was legal in Florida, something that should represent a financial upturn for Johnson.

“I lose my money every day,” he said with a smile.

Still, Johnson, who has been going to the Palm Beach Kennel Club since 1987, couldn’t shake his sense of loss.

Although the mood was generally festive at the Kennel Club with live music, giveaways and plenty of racing, Johnson considered Thursday a sad day.

And so did the 3,000 or so people who went to the venue on New Year’s Eve. Regulars said it was the largest crowd in years. It figures it came on the final day the greyhounds were running.

The end of greyhound racing marks the end of an era. It’s also the end — thankfully, some would say — of the sport in Florida. In 2018, voters were 69% in favor of Amendment 13, which banned greyhound racing beginning in 2021.

Opponents of the sport, including Grey2k USA, which advocates the end of greyhound racing nationwide, claim the dogs are subject to practices that are “cruel and inhumane.”

They say the dogs are stuck in cages for much of the day, are given drugs to help them perform, and generally live a miserable existence.

Fans of the sport say that’s not true.

Manly Sutton, a 71-year-old resident at Century Village in West Palm Beach who goes to the Kennel Club two or three times a week, said he’s visited three kennels and the dogs are treated well.

“You go to the dog pound and they keep them in little cages,” he said. “How cruel is that?”

Barbara Masi, president of Awesome Greyhound Adoptions in Boynton Beach, said all the greyhounds at the Kennel Club already have homes. Most will be adopted, but some will race in other states while a few others will join a program called “Hounds and Heroes” and become service dogs for military veterans.

Masi called Thursday a bittersweet day.

“Believe me, those dogs are well cared for,” she said. “Better than your dogs at home.”

Back in the day, greyhound racing was fashionable. The Palm Beach Kennel Club opened in 1932, and it attracted big-name figures from entertainers to baseball players in town for spring training.

“You had Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin and those guys in here,” said Patrick Rooney Jr., president of the Kennel Club. “Joe DiMaggio, and, I think, Marilyn Monroe, were in here.”

But the glamour eventually wore off.

While greyhound racing was a fashionable night out in the 1950s and ’60s, it became more of a daytime event about 20 years ago, and its core audience became older.

Rooney estimates the Kennel Club has about 200 core fans with a 60-40 split between male and female.

The venue will attempt to survive after greyhound racing, but it won’t be easy.

“We’re going to have poker, we’re going to have simulcasting,” Rooney said. “We’re going to look for other revenue streams, whatever they may be.”

The Kennel Club has about 500 employees. The longest-employed workers had races named in their honor Thursday. Theresa Hume, director of publicity, has been at the club for more than 40 years. She had the fifth race named for her and her sister, another longtime employee.

Hume said one teller has been at the track for 50 years.

“We tend to stick,” Hume quipped.

Most employees will stay at the Kennel Club after being repurposed. If somebody worked with greyhounds previously, that person may now work in the poker room.

Masi couldn’t be at the the Kennel Club Thursday. She’s adopted four greyhounds, and two are afraid of fireworks. But Masi was at the club earlier in the week.

“The sadness is just …,” she said, her voice trailing off. “You couldn’t believe it. It’s just awful.”

The Kennel Club was planning on making the most of its final day with racing from noon to midnight. The last race, a 545-yard affair, a distance greyhounds usually cover in about 30 seconds, was scheduled to start at 11:59 p.m.

At midnight, races must be over. Rooney is choosing to be thankful for the time he had at the Palm Beach Kennel Club.

“Today is viewed as a celebration,” he said. “We made it 88 years.”