After spending over three decades with greyhounds, Arthur “Art” Marcoux considers each of his dogs to be his baby. All 116 of them. Marcoux said desk work never suited him and that he has been fascinated with the dogs ever since his father took him to a racing track at age 7. Now, a trainer at age 46, his future with greyhound racing looks grim. In November of 2018, after a lengthy campaign from anti-racing groups, Florida voters passed Amendment 13 which banned greyhound racing in the state. Every track in Florida, including the Sanford-Orlando Kennel Club where Marcoux works, will be closing by the end of the year. For trainers like Marcoux, this means more than losing a job. He is losing a way of life.
Marcoux puts the dogs back into their kennels after letting them out for their morning play time. He arrives at the kennels at 5:30 every morning to let them out and prepare their meals. Most days he goes home about 12 hours later.