Winning dogs’ racing status in doubt over insemination rule

Doubt has been cast on the status of hundreds of racing and coursing greyhounds bred using frozen semen taken from long-dead sires.

This includes many winning greyhounds whose sires died more than two years before they were conceived.

Artificial insemination is allowed under the 2005 regulations governing the breeding of greyhounds but the rules, set out in secondary legislation, stipulate that frozen semen can only be stored for two years after a stud dog dies. At this point it must be destroyed.

However, this rule has not been enforced and hundreds of dogs have been bred in recent years from semen kept from dead dogs.

This practice developed after a decision was taken to scrap the rule, but it was never properly implemented. The critical statutory instrument was not updated.

In one case, the popular sire Top Honcho died at the age of 14 in 2007, but litters were bred from him in 2010, 2011, and 2012. His 2010 offspring have won 361 races in total, taking home a combined €51,545.

The stud book for the greyhound industry is managed by the Irish Coursing Club. It said it met with the Irish Greyhound Board and prominent stud owners in 2007 and it was agreed the restriction on using frozen semen from dead dogs was too complicated to implement and out of step with other countries.

A recommendation was made in 2008 to delete the provision but no amended regulations were passed.

In a statement, the ICC’s chief executive, DJ Histon, said it was agreed among the stakeholders to delete this section in the law.

“This provision was the most complicated and subject to review by Bord na gCon [IGB] and stakeholders [ICC and stud owners] which took place in 2007 and it was unanimously agreed to nullify that specific provision,” it said.

The ICC said it was the responsibility of the IGB to give effect to the amended regulations. Mr Histon said when he joined the ICC as CEO in Oct 2008 it was already practice to set aside the two-year rule.

The legislation allows the key stakeholders to amend the length of the storage limit, but this must be publicised and advertised in the Sporting Press, an industry publication.

Due to other commitments the IGB was not in a position to comment.