Regency Greyhound Betting: Our look at Brighton’s biggest race

Our definitive and thorough overview will tell you absolutely everything you need to know about Coral Regency betting sites. We will guide you through the betting offers and odds prices you find for the event at the best British bookies and also provide some interesting facts and info and the race itself. Read on to learn more.

Regency Greyhound Betting Offers & Promotions

Regency greyhound betting is big on the coast, and as a result, provides the opportunity for some awesome offers at the bookies. We would recommend checking close to the time to see what kind of deals are on offer – either on or close to the day itself. The kind of thing that you can expect are enhanced odds, money-back if your greyhound loses to the favourite and payouts even if your greyhound comes third or fourth. The usual complex bets such as the tricast and forecast are also available on the day and could result in some massive jackpots (2016’s tricast was £218.45). As the race is sponsored by Coral, they are easily the best operator to bet with for this event. Nevertheless, we would recommend that you spend some time looking across all the operators in order to find a deal that you think is right for you.

Regency Greyhound Odds Prices

As the Regency is such a massive part of greyhound racing, betting sites will usually slash the odds prices in order to entice you to have a bet. Our long and extensive analysis of the Regency final found that the average odds prices come in at around 85%, which represents a significant mark up from your average greyhound race. Due to the several heats and rounds greyhound have to get through in order to qualify for the main race, the antepost odds for greyhounds can be rather high – sometimes even reaching 500/1 to win outright. This also affects the favourites too, who can be priced as high as 14/1. As usual, odds prices will vary between bookmakers, so do take a long look at all of them before choosing which one to bet with.

Some Interesting Facts

Many of the big events we cover on this site have changed location due to racecourses closing down, but the Regency has always been held at Brighton since its inception in 1948 – the year that greyhound racing reached its full popularity, attracting 35 million spectators. The first winner, Bunnys Hoard, was trained by the legendary Gunner Smith – who would go on to win the event eight more times over 40 years in the business. During this time the kennel strength at Hove was said to be the best in the country.

Race Information:

First held:	1948	Brighton Stadium: race location Scurlogue Champ, famous greyhound
Distance:	695m
Number of rounds:	6
Grades:	Group 1
Date held:	May
Prize money:	£10,000

The length of the race is always changing. When it first started, it was at 525y, before moving up quite some distance to 725y in 1966. It stayed this way until 1975, when it went down again 670m in 1975, before going back up to 680m in 1978. It would later change to a high of 740m between 1981 and 1995, before going back down again to 695m. It was drastically shortened to 515m between 2004 and 2005, before resting – for now – at 695m.

Scurlogue Champ

Considered one of the three best greyhounds that ever raced in the UK – alongside Mick the Miller and Ballyregan Bob – Scurlogue Champ was by far the greatest dog to ever win the Coral Regency. He won the 1985 race easily after being rated as the 8/15 favourite. This was one of many wins that the greyhound – known for giving his competitors thirty metre leads before freakishly taking it back off them – achieved over his career, alongside the Cesarewitch in 1985 and the BBC Television Trophy in 1985 and 1986. He won a ridiculous 51 out of 63 races over his career, setting 18 track records in the process.

Historical Info

Only one greyhound has ever won the race twice – Yankees Shadow in 1986 and 1987. His odds for his first race were 8/1 before being drastically shortened the next year to 1/2 . Interestingly enough, he had two different trainers – George Curtis for the first race and Bill Masters for the second. The great Ballyregan Bob never competed in this race, although he sired Bobs Regan who was the favourite and won the race in 1991.

The Regency is not as prone to surprises as the St Leger with usually the favourite, or the second favourite greyhound, going on to win the race. Nevertheless, 2014 was a particularly exciting year, when the 25/1 placed Boltatwelldigger managed to come in first place. Yet not only this, the ridiculously short 1/3 rated Farloe Tango – trained by Charlie Lister – came last! The simple fact is, you can never tell what may happen when you watch the dogs – making it the greatest sport in the whole of the UK. Head back over to the main events for info on some of the other big greyhound races in the UK.