A local rabbit caused a real bad hare day at an Australian dog race when it dashed across the track and distracted one of the front-runners.

Ginny Lou was in third position as the greyhounds chased an automatic rabbit round the track in Shepparton, Victoria, but when a real hare wandered onto the track, she decided to chase that instead. None of the other dogs seemed to share Ginny Lou’s preference for the real deal, remaining on course until the end. Still, her brief foray into genuine hunting was not appreciated by the owners of the Shepparton Greyhound Racing Club, who had to annul the 390m Finer Fruit Stakes race and return £18,500 of bets to punters. 

Ginny Lou’s owner Scott Stefanos explained why she had hared off-track: “Greyhounds are sight hounds and every time Ginny Lou sees a ball or something moving in the wind her ears prick up, so when she saw the hare skirt past her eyes, she chased it away and then ran back on to the track to finish the race.” 

Despite costing him $75 in prize money, Stefanos was not angry at his enthusiastic pooch. “To her credit she thought she was doing the right thing, then had the nous to carry on and join the rest of the field.”

The Sydney Daily Telegraph reports that ducks and even snakes have been known to disrupt races, but a case of a greyhound chasing a real hare is a first for Australia.

John Martin, President of the Shepparton Greyhound Racing Club was less impressed, pointing out that there was a danger it could happen again. “We’ve got full-time staff here who are still looking for that damn rabbit,” he fumed.