Before the Canidrome – the Dogs Ran at Luna Park

I’ve blogged and written about the old Canidrome dog racing track (that hosted football and boxing as well as dog racing) in Shanghai’s Frenchtown before (numerously – just put “Canidrome” in the archive engine to your right). The Canidrome nightclub was round the corner as was the Hai-Alai Fronton. But there was dog racing in Shanghai before the Canidrome, at two tracks – Luna Park and Stadium. Luna Park, which opened in 1927, was financed by a largely British-backed company (as was Stadium) called Greyhound Racing Ltd whose board included the Shanghai Municipal Council Chairman H.E. Arnhold (old Shanghai didn’t really do “conflict of interest”!). It was popular – over 70,000 often attended the Saturday night races. Eventually Luna Park became a victim of a gambling crackdown in the Settlement and so the Canidrome became the “top dog” of the tracks (sorry!). There’s a significant back story involving corruption and gambling-criminal elements in Shanghai linked to the demise of Luna Park (and Stadium) and the rise of the Canidrome, but I’ll save that for another time. Here then…the dogs let loose….(the keen eyed will note the picture is by the famous Shanghai-based photographer Ah Fong).

Harry Arnhold