Churchill Downs Targeted for Greyhound Racing Involvement

A fresh animal advocacy initiative is targeting Churchill Downs’ continued involvement in greyhound racing.

The organization, Grey2K USA, has started a new project to expose Churchill Downs as the final major US company that still utilizes greyhound racing. Their goal is to increase public knowledge about this practice by creating a website called TwinSpiresCruelty.org, initiating a petition on Change.org that implores the CEO of Churchill Downs to cease greyhound racing, and displaying ads on Facebook in Kentucky that emphasize the problem.

Christine A. Dorchak, President and General Counsel for Grey2K USA, stated, “If Churchill Downs was genuinely committed to its corporate social responsibility policy, it would stop backing an activity that is misaligned with common American principles.”

Greyhound racing is prohibited in 42 states, and the remaining tracks in the nation are all situated in West Virginia.

Throughout recent decades, greyhound racing has been diminishing across the US as animal welfare proponents have denounced the handling of the dogs. In 2021, 627 greyhounds were harmed, with 189 sustaining fractured bones.

“Churchill Downs and its branch, TwinSpires, are financing the last remnants of an industry accountable for the imprisonment, fatalities, and mistreatment of countless dogs,” Dorchak added.

“This avarice is intolerable in today’s progressively compassionate economy.”

Businesses that persist in backing greyhound racing are engaging in a risky gamble with their public image. The message is clear: a nationwide prohibition on greyhound racing, which already possesses broad public approval, was presented in the legislature with more than 100 cosponsors and the endorsement of 250 animal advocacy groups. Florida, a state formerly closely associated with greyhound racing, prudently banned the inhumane activity in 2018 with almost 70% of the electorate supporting the measure.