Greyhound Derby: Dates, track, format & more

The Greyhound Derby is the biggest prize in the sport where six of the best dogs battle it out in the final, having got through five previous stages.

It takes six weeks to find out who the champion will be, with 192 dogs setting out to win the most prestigious canine prize.

Towcester has been the venue for the last three Greyhound Derby finals and will likely again host the 2025 competition.

When is the Greyhound Derby?

Dates for the 2025 Greyhound Derby are yet to be announced. The competition will be run over six weeks (six rounds) and culminate with the final over 500m.

Where is the Greyhound Derby?

The Derby is run at Towcester Racecourse in Northamptonshire. It's the site of a former National Hunt racecourse, which was famous for its stiff uphill finish.

The greyhound track has a circumference of 420m, with the Derby being run over a 500m distance.

Towcester opened its doors to greyhound racing in 2014 and held the Derby in 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023 - the track is now four years into a five-year deal to hold the English Classic.

The English Greyhound Derby has a long history and was first held at London's White City Stadium in 1927. The race stayed in west London, bar a one-year switch to Harringay in 1940, until it was moved to Wimbledon in 1985.

The Derby continued to be staged at the Plough Lane venue until its doors were closed in 2016.

Nottingham held the 2019 and 2020 runnings of the great race, but Towcester has now been established as the new home of the biggest prize in greyhound racing.

How the competition works

The competing greyhounds are drawn into first-round heats, with three dogs qualifying from each race throughout the event. The top-three dogs from each heat then progress to Round Two, with the rest of the field eliminated from the competition.

It's a random draw, apart from the fact that the greyhounds are seeded to their running style. The dogs are graded as railers, middles or wides and that plays a part in their trap draws.

The competition runs over a six-week period, until it reaches its crescendo, when there are just six greyhounds left to compete in the final.

Not only is it a test of a dogs speed and skill, but also of their endurance and consistency, as they need to maintain a high-level of performance throughout the competition.