“The Waterloo Cup was a coursing event. The three day event was run annually at Great Altcar in Lancashire, England from 1836 to 2005 and it used to attract tens of thousands of spectators to watch and gamble on the coursing matches. It was founded by William Philip Molyneux, 2nd Earl of Sefton, and, originally, was supported by his patronage.

It was the biggest annual hare coursing event in the United Kingdom and was often referred to by its supporters as the blue riband event of the coursing year. A hare coursing event of identical name was held in Australia from 1868 to 1985, at which point it became a lure coursing event.

Run as a knock-out tournament between sixty four coursing greyhounds from Great Britain and Ireland, supporters described it as the ultimate test of a greyhound but opponents of hare coursing, such as the League Against Cruel Sports, saw it as a celebration of cruelty. The Hunting Act 2004 which came into force just after the 2005 cup made hare coursing events illegal in England and Wales, and the Waterloo Cup has not taken place since”. – Wikipedia

Photos: Greyhounds race after a Hare at the last Waterloo Cup Hare coursing event, February 14, 2005 near Liverpool, England. Coursing was one of the world's oldest field sports, which traces its foundation to the first public coursing club of Swaffham in 1776. 'Beaters' drive hares' one by one on to the running ground where greyhounds race after them in pairs. Points are awarded for speed and for the ability to make the hare turn to evade its pursuers in a sport which is fiercely condemned by animal rights organisations. The Countryside Alliance is challenging the validity of the 1949 Parliament Act in the High Court, London. Centuries-old sports was outlawed after February 18, 2005. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)