Bad Hare Day: Dog Race Thrown Into Chaos
10:52am UK, Thursday July 22, 2010
A dog called Ginny Lou was in third place on the last bend when it spotted the animal and veered off after it.
The incredible scene was captured on TV cameras as the 20/1 outsider sprinted off the track at Shepparton in Victoria.
Angry gamblers were forced to tear up their betting slips when the 390m Finer Fruit Stakes race was then abandoned.
Bookmakers handed back the £18,500 that had been waged.
Racing officials spent the night searching for the hare, but it could not be found.
Trainer Scott Stefanos said the intruder had cost him $75 (£43) in prize money for the third place.
Off Track: Hare Causes Havoc At Greyhound Meet
"Ginny Lou is pretty smart because she's the only dog who set off after the real thing," he told the Sydney Daily Telegraph.
"It's a shame she didn't get rewarded for her efforts.
"The lure must have scared it because it's come from underneath the inside fence, took a couple of strides towards the dogs, realised it was going the wrong way and then darted across the track.
"Ginny Lou has slammed on the brakes and off she went. To her credit she thought she was doing the right thing, then had the nous to carry on and join the rest of the field."
Shepparton club president John Martin said he had no idea where the hare had come from.
"We've got full-time staff here who are still looking for that damn rabbit," he added.
Racing experts said the odd snake or duck had been seen on greyhound courses in Australia, but never a live hare.
See the video
A Hare Raising Experience
Re: A Hare Raising Experience
Man, that's one big bunny...
He looks like he's almost half the size of the dogs....
I'll bet there were a lot of track patrons that had money on that dog who would have loved to have Hasenpfeffer for dinner that night...
He looks like he's almost half the size of the dogs....
I'll bet there were a lot of track patrons that had money on that dog who would have loved to have Hasenpfeffer for dinner that night...
Re: A Hare Raising Experience
WOO-Hooo!!! YOU GO WABBIT!!!!! LOL
Get down wit' your bun-self!
Get down wit' your bun-self!
Re: A Hare Raising Experience
Hares are not rabbits.
But jesus, a hare on a dog track, could it not find anywhere less safe to play, like the middle of the fast lane on the interstate?
But jesus, a hare on a dog track, could it not find anywhere less safe to play, like the middle of the fast lane on the interstate?
Hares do not bear their young below ground in a burrow as do other leporids, rather in a shallow depression or flattened nest of grass called a form. Hares are adapted to the lack of physical protection, relative to that afforded by a burrow, by being born fully furred and with eyes open. They are hence able to fend for themselves soon after birth; they are precocial. By contrast, the related rabbits and cottontail rabbits are altricial, having young that are born blind and hairless.
All rabbits (except the cottontail rabbits) live underground in burrows or warrens, while hares (and cottontail rabbits) live in simple nests above the ground, and usually do not live in groups. Hares are generally larger than rabbits, with longer ears, and have black markings on their fur. Hares have not been domesticated, while rabbits are often kept as house pets. There is a domestic pet known as the "Belgian Hare" but this is a rabbit that has been selectively bred to resemble a hare.[2]
The hare's diet is very similar to the rabbit's. They are also both part of the Lagomorph order.
Hares have been thought to have kinetic skulls; unique among mammals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: A Hare Raising Experience
I know-I know, me of all peoples knows dat...
It was a joke son, you missed it; Bugs 'Bunny' was originally conceived as a hare, the yuks have been interchangeable since.
It was a joke son, you missed it; Bugs 'Bunny' was originally conceived as a hare, the yuks have been interchangeable since.
Re: A Hare Raising Experience
Ah, oops, hehe!
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”