GREYHOUND OF THE YEAR 2018: DOROTAS WILDCAT

Dorotas Wildcat was crowned Greyhound of the Year at the GBGB Awards Gala Dinner on Sunday evening. The Kevin Hutton-trained star topped the Standard Racer of the Year category after his brilliant Derby winning performance and quite superb comeback to win a highly competitive Eclipse at Nottingham and the panel of judges decided that was enough to give him the prestigious accolade.

Four-time Category One winner King Turbo would have almost certainly have been Greyhound of the Year in any other year but, in what was a two-runner race, connections had some consolation with the Liz McNair’s charge and KSS Syndicate taking the Best British-Bred title.

The superb Donation landed the Bitch of the Year title while the other awards on the evening went pretty much as expected with the Stayer of the Year crown going to Bombers Bullet, trained by 2018 Champion trainer Mark Wallis, the Marathon division going to Slippy Maggie, while Calzaghe Flash came out top in the Sprint title and Lenson Wilson in the hurdling division.

Newcomer of the Year went to Matt Dartnall’s Rising Brandy, a stunning winner of the Ladbrokes Puppy Derby at Monmore and who was brilliant in the early rounds of the Derby before injury curtailed his progress.

Award Winners in full;

Jeremy Cooper

The address by GBGB Chairman Jeremy Cooper including his tribute to John Gilburn, who was the recipient of the GBGB Chairman’s Award, which was accepted by his wife Rochelle and children Kirstie and Steven;

“It is my immense pleasure to welcome you all to the GBGB Awards 2018. It is the industries chance to look back on the achievements and winners from last year.

I really hope and trust that you have a fantastic evening here at the Park Plaza, which is our second year of hosting the awards here. It is a tremendous location and the staff here are very exceptional in wanting you to enjoy the nights entertainment. I should also very much invite you to thank my staff at the GBGB, most notably Zoe and her team for the months that it takes to prepare and deliver this spectacular event.

As the relatively new Chairman for the GBGB it falls to me to take but a few minutes to reflect on the year that was 2018.

In March, the GBGB, for the first time, published the sports injury and retirement figures. This publication was initiated after the recommendations of the EFRA Committee in 2016 and was welcomed by the GBGB as part of its ambition to be more transparent and open. Firstly, the figures, when published, did not represent the inflated numbers that many expected and in many cases were far better than expected. That said, the GBGB confirmed its intention to recognise that

more needed to be done and therefore, on the same day, we launched our 8-point ‘Greyhound Commitment’, which clearly outlined what the GBGB would be doing over the next 5-years to reduce track injuries and increase the numbers of ex-racing greyhounds going into their forever homes at retirement.

In May and June, the Derby was hosted for its second year at Towcester with ‘Dorotas Wildcat’ taking the Derby Crown. What a fantastic year that made for Kevin Hutton and his team. The euphoria of the Derby was, however, somewhat short-lived when in August, Towcester Racing went into administration. This was a terrible loss to the sport and the owners and trainers but also to the staff who worked at the track. Fortunately, most of the trainers were able to move their racing to other tracks and as we now know the Derby for 2019 will be held at Nottingham Stadium.

September saw the launch of the GBGB Greyhound Ambassador Scheme, which saw people connected with the sport, come together to help promote the sport and greyhound welfare and the recent publication of their ‘Greyhound Race Day’ leaflet is a superb reflection as to the care and attention that goes in to greyhounds doing what they do best with regards to racing.

The launch of the GBGB Apprenticeship Scheme followed in October, with 17 people, all with a passion for greyhounds, enter on the initiative with many hopefully graduating later this year.

Funding for the sport was, as always, the elephant in the room and 2018 saw detailed and precise negotiations with the bookmakers. I’m delighted to see that Lord David Lipsey is present tonight and we have him to thank for chairing much of the negotiations that finally bore fruit earlier this month with all the main bookmakers now paying voluntary contributions on their on-line businesses.

Let us not however be complacent about the funding situation with greyhound racing. Whilst the on-line contributions are indeed a godsend, the contributions made on retail are set to cause significant challenge to our welfare and racing ambitions in the next few years ahead.

At the GBGB Board in 2018, we saw the departure of Robert Griffiths QC as our Regulatory Board Chairman and he was replaced by Peter Cadman. The temporary Owners Director, Bob Boswell stood down and was replaced by greyhound stateman, John Coleman.

Saddest of all however, was the sudden and untimely death of John Gilburn. John as you know, was the Managing Director at Owlerton Stadium but he was also a GBGB Director, BGRF

Director and Chairman of the Race Course Promoters Association.

John was an incredible tour de force within greyhound racing in the UK. He was someone who contributed a huge amount of his working time for the betterment of the sport and at a Board level, he was always one of the first to volunteer to help on projects and support his colleagues.

John was the Managing Director at Sheffield for 11 years and oversaw an incredible amount of development and diversification at the track in order to ensure that it remained at the very top of its game within greyhound racing.

When I took over as Chairman, John was always on hand to support me, whilst I got to grips with the sport, but also was never afraid to challenge either the status quo within the sport or to respond to critics or those that had ulterior motives, seeking to damage the reputation of the sport.

None of us who met John would have failed to know how much he was a family man. Having attended his funeral and seen the large numbers of people who came to pay their respects, you could not help but be moved at all of the references made to his family life. It makes me wonder how he managed this, against all that he did during his working life!

Aside from the revelation at his funeral, that John once upon a time sported lycra, as an ice figure-skater in his youth (surprisingly he kept that quiet), and that as a qualified accountant, he was always very careful with his money, you would have realised that he provided a real legacy as both a family man but also as a business man and supporter of greyhound racing.

The Greyhound Writers’ Association had considered John for a posthumous award tonight and were it not for the GBGB wanting to celebrate and recognise John’s contributions to the sport by way of the GBGB Chairman’s Award then he would have been honoured separately.

John Gilburn has, and will continue to be sorely missed by family, friends and colleagues. His work and lasting legacy is therefore commended by the GBGB by way of the Chairman’s Award for 2018.”