Wimbledon future looks back ontrack

Walthamstow will be the 14th London track to close and the eighth since 1970. Crayford and Romford are in London boroughs but do not have London post-codes.

Richard Hayler, the general secretary of the British Greyhound Racing Board, the representative body for the sport in the UK, claims that while attendances are falling - down from 3.52 million in 2005 to 3.32m in 2006 - there is still a bright future ahead.

He said: "Greyhound racing has suffered a difficult few years, but is not out of line with other businesses in the leisure sector. The potential for growth is undoubted, although the closure of Walthamstow is unlikely to be the last bump along the road to get there."

Len Ponder, who owns Derby finalist Lenson Express, also believes the Plough Lane stadium can prosper.

He said: "We've seen great change in the last three months and things are moving in the right direction. The masses who turn up [on Derby night] don't know one end of a dog from the other, but they can keep it open.

"There must be one track in London. The game is finished if there isn't."

While the first greyhound race is rumoured to have taken place at Welsh Harp, Hendon in September 1876, dog racing in stadiums began at Belle Vue, Manchester, in 1926, when 1,700 people turned up for opening night. A week later, 16,000 came through the gates and now more than three million people still love "a night at the dogs".

Some of the lost London tracks were icons of their time. The 150,000-capacity White City, where the BBC Television headquarters is now based, was built for the 1908 London Olympics, while dogs raced at the old Wembley Stadium for 71 years.

However, the big races on the greyhound calendar have survived at tracks around the country and Walthamstow's Listed neon front may yet stand among the new housing developments.

Romford, Walthamstow's nearest neighbour, is said to be interested in putting on extra meetings but that plan may be scuppered by local residents concerned about too much racing.

Saturday's Derby will be the highlight of a two-and-a-half hour show to be broadcast from Wimbledon on Sky Sports 2 and will see three Irish and three English-trained dogs battling it out for glory.