“A year ago we had 130 dogs on the strength. The lowest point was a full restaurant on a Saturday night coming up to Christmas and all we could put on was seven four-dog races. As a business, it was killing us”
The media rights battle – to decide whether ARC/GMG or SIS will be the long term providers of greyhound racing to the betting industries and internet – has produced huge amounts of upset and turmoil. If you were looking for the single biggest beneficiary you would struggle to go beyond Henlow.
The Lower Stondon track now have an SIS contract for four meetings per week and promoter Kevin Boothby has been spreading the cash around. He has added to the track kennels with new blocks enabling local hobby trainer Graham Payne to run his own range of 39 runners.
Jason Bloomfield has moved into the original kennel block though both he and Steve Fletcher also have new ranges. Lucrative retainers have rained down like confetti.
This time last year, bottom grade winner collected £40 with also-rans getting £20 each. They now receive £95 and the also-ran money has doubled. Those increased retainers have transformed the lives of trainers.
Bloomfield said: “We now have five full-time staff which means everyone gets their days off. The best thing about Henlow though is that it is a proper ‘dog man’s’ track. Its all about racing, not ‘how many are in the restaurant’ . There is also a good relationship between the trainers.”
In fact, the extra cash has been spent all around the stadium from track equipment and tractors, to starting traps, large quantities of track sand and an upgrade to the Henlow restaurant. It is now being rented out for private functions and being used for entertainment nights.
Two new sets of starting traps and assorted track equipment. . . when was the last time Henlow had two usable tractors?
Promoter Kevin Boothby said: “It has gone very well so far and we will be looking to do something most Friday and Saturday nights. We have some of the region’s most popular singers and comedians lined up. We have ‘Gentlemans’ and ‘Ladies’ evenings, anything that people want to see really. We can take 180 people and the early ones have all sold out. Because of the SIS money, we are not dependent on the evening revenue, it is all bonus.”
But speaking to Boothby, you soon realise that Henlow is very much a ‘work in progress’. He has ambitions on a fifth meeting – preferably a Saturday evening – and has made the preparations should he ever get the call from SIS’s Gordon Bissett.
He said: “We more than enough dogs for a fifth meeting. Jason Ray is returning, along with Frank Gray and we should have in the region of 500 runners available. We have just taken on James Chalkley from Peterborough which means we now have four in the racing office and no one should have to work longer than a 40 hour week. I am planning to build more racing kennels, taking us up to 114, which will make life easier in terms of trial days.”
All this will surely come at a welfare cost, in terms of additional racing and re-homing?
Boothby said: “Of course it does, but we are prepared to pay it. At present, Johanna Beumer is re-homing between 11-15 dogs per month but I realise that the demand will increase dramatically once the influx of new dogs get to retirement age. So I have gone into partnership with Eric Cantillon on a 50 acre site in Lincolnshire.
“We will have room for a much bigger racing kennel for Eric, but at least two blocks for retired dogs, plus an isolation block. Eric is a bit restricted where he is at the moment, and he would like to expand. Anybody who knows him would be aware that he doesn’t cut corners. His horse studs in Bury St.Edmunds and Ireland are spectacular. We are both very excited about the future.
“As for welfare for racing dogs, I am, by far, the biggest owner at Henlow. Nobody wants injuries less than me. Even our harshest critics would have to accept that even when the place was on its arse, we had one of the best racing surfaces in the country.
“That is still a priority. We deliberately try to run it around .20 slow because it is safer that way – proving that it is slow for over-watering and and not because it is too dry. Last month only 2.5% of our dogs raced six times. That is still too many, I don’t want to see any greyhound racing more than four or five times per month.”
Kevin Boothby is basically ‘the fan who bought the club’. Whether it is watching his runners or having a beer in the restaurant, there is nothing in the world he would rather be doing.
But his love of good racing means he will always have a favourite meeting.
“Sundays” he says. “Firstly because during the summer we have been getting crowds of around 500 in – mainly families enjoying an afternoon out, which provides a great atmosphere. But also, I do miss the open racing.
“We had to cut down the opens when the kennel strength went up but whether we get the extra meeting or not, we will be running more Cat 2 events in the coming months; I am not so keen on one-off opens.
“Mark Lowther’s company is sponsoring an Oaks and we also have plans for the Bedfordshire Sprint. In addition to the winner’s prize money, also-runs will all get £60, plus the £15 trainers bonus.”
