My thanks to Hove owner Mike Harrod who spotted an interesting piece in The Times at the weekend.

Written by Dominc Walsh and entitled ‘Dogs have had their day as football team gets stadium’ it was, quite obviously, about the impending closure of Wimbledon. It actually went beyond Wimbledon and painted a very bleak picture of greyhound racing’s finances in general.

There were two issues that really jumped out at me. The first was a response to a quote from GBGB Chairman Tom Kelly asking that bookmakers should ‘pay their dues’.

It was from ‘One of the big betting shop operators’ and stated: “Like the rest of the industry, we are aware of the demands for more money but the Greyhound Board have yet to unveil a budget showing where the extra money would be spent and what it will go towards. We pay our levy and we are major investors in the sport.”

The second issue concerned the readers comments at the end of the piece. The majority were absolutely scathing in their perception of welfare within the greyhound industry.

Put the two angles together and it seems obvious to me that the bookies will be in a big moral hole if this industry was to actually play its welfare card.

I think they know that – and are goading GBGB into showing its hand. Why the reluctance? Well what if every penny of the extra £8m – give or take – went into the bottomless pit that is welfare?

Well what is ‘welfare’?

I suggest it goes a hell of a lot further than just rehoming ex-racers. In fact, having spent a great deal of time thinking about the subject, it is hard to know where it stops.

For example, assistance on injury treatment and prevention? Additional funding for trainers to ensure that all kennels are adequately staffed giving racers a better quality of life?

I would even go into areas such as offering prize money bonuses for veterans races. So many dogs are retired sound, or ‘potentially sound if sensibly managed’ as was mentioned on this site by Phil Simmonds who gave away runners as soon as they not able to cope with BAGS requirements.

Sometimes owners retire aging open racers simply because they don’t want their reputations dented by younger inferior dogs. I would love to see a veteran’s open on every SKY card. Maybe alternate it ‘four year olds’ one week ‘five year olds’ the next.

I would also allow trainers a payment holiday by subsidising the kennel bills of recently retired dogs – at least for a period of a year.

In my opinion – the promoters – who would also be entitled to a separate share of any additional funding, would naturally gain across the board in all sorts of welfare areas not normally discussed.

For example, I know of a string of cases where tracks have paid for trainer’s kennel improvements and even bought them new dogs.

Where is the imagination and innovation in our welfare dealings? Dunno. Ask GBGB.

Secondly – and I know I am repeating an old theme here – but I am sick to death of this industry’s lily livered response to the antis.

We have the figures on injuries – and they are nowhere near as bad as they are claimed to be.

We will NEVER have full access to euthanasia data because we do not live in a police state and any owner has the right to humanely dispose of an animal – greyhound or mongrel. The Home Office has previously gone on record to defend that right.

So let’s get stuck into the people who know bugger-all about our industry but are determined to give it a bad name.

Because it seems to me that even if we were able to rectify every single welfare issue – nobody would believe us anyway.

 

 

It is just over two years since the site went on-line and 15 months since it went ‘solo’ with no newspaper.

During that time we have built up a solid readership that increased throughout that period to where we are today. But I want to make some sweeping changes to take us forward to another level.

First and foremost, l and am looking for more contributors to the site with news stories and features from throughout the industry.

Information will always be more important than writing experience – we can sort out the grammar and spelling at this end. The most important quality is passion and accuracy.

It might be a regular update from your local track or a study into different trends in racing or betting.

If you think you have something to contribute – get in touch via our email: [email protected].

 

 

Finally – I had a great night at Monmore last week and caught up with a bunch of old mates, starting with Tony Meek.

As many dog folk will be aware, the double Derby winning trainer has seen his life decimated by a long term disability brought on by brain seizures.

The last time I spoke to Tony, he was hoping that major surgery would finally cure the problem. It has – and he was buzzing, so to speak!

In fact, fate seems to be smiling on Tony and wife Jayne with a TV programme recently uncovering a lost inheritance for the family that should see Tony net in the region of £50K. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke and top top quality dog man.

I also enjoyed a five minute chat with the ‘Birdman of Monmore’ – otherwise known as racing manager Tony Williamson.

I was amazed to learn that Tony is something of an authority on birds of prey. He has owned peregrine falcons, Harris’ hawks, kestrels. If it could fly and kill things – Tony probably had one.

“But that was before I got married” he explained

Oh! So what do you have now?

“A budgie”