Newcastle GM Ian Walton was impressed with Coolavanny Shado’s first look at his track on Wednesday when clocking 28.93 on going rated -30, the fastest of the session.
Walton said: “He lost at least two lengths at the start. If you compare his sectional 4.65 with Swift Iconic’s 4.47, you can see where he will improve. I would also expect him to find a minimum of three lengths with the benefit of a sight of the track you can knock plenty off that 28.63 calculated run. On that basis, you would have to say it was a very good run.
“We’ve had some high class dogs trial; that £20,000 first prize is making a huge difference. I wouldn’t want to say it will be the best All England Cup we’ve had in many years, because that might be disrespecting some of the previous winners, but it should be the most competitive for top class dogs.”
Entries close at Noon on Friday and among those now booked for a sprint trial – though previously not expected to be anticipating in the locally owned and trained Select winner Brookside Richie.
One of the most notable aspects of Coolavanny Shado’s first look at ‘Brough’ was how tightly he railed and the whole business of seeding is something on which Ian Walton has some interesting ideas.
He said: “I want to make it clear that I am not suggesting any changes of the rules or anything being imposed on owners and trainers against their will. It just seems to me that there are a few things that they might want to talk about themselves to see how they feel about them.
“It really came to a head when Nathan Hunt withdrew his runners from the semi finals of the Olympic after he acknowledged that they probably wouldn’t have qualified and that it was in the best interests of the sport. That is fabulous to see.
“One of my concerns is seeding because I am convinced that a lot of dogs are tactically seeded and that is leading to more trouble and injuries in racing than is necessary.
“On so many occasions you hear that a dog has drawn trap one and the first thing the trainer says is ‘oh no’. When you ask them, they tell you that their dog is really a middle, and they really wanted three, but they they didn’t want to seed middle in case they get five or even six later in the competition and be at a big disadvantage.
“We’ve probably got 350 dogs on the strength here and probably 30-40 really benefit from trap one. But because it is graded racing, you can work the traps by putting a dog with either more or less early pace on their inside and largely avoid trouble. The problem with the open racers that you get loads of 4.50 sectionals and very few 4.70s.
“At our track, we might get 25 entered as railers for a 36 dog open race competition – even though quite a few of them would really prefer white to red in the trap draw. Some people might say ‘well you should make them change their seeding’. But that is a big responsibility. How do we know, on the basis of maybe one trial, whether a dog is seeded wrong? It might be a railer here and a middle seed somewhere else.
“In recent years I can only think of six or eight occasions when we have insisted on changing a seed. But when you do it, you are guessing to a certain extent and taking full responsibility for what happens in that race, whether it is fair or not.
“Could trainers be persuaded, in the same spirit that Nathan had, to accurately seed their dogs more? Quite often it seems to be a case of ‘I’m only doing it because the others are doing it too.'”
Is it possible that actually having a choice is detrimental to ‘fair play for everyone’?. In other words, do trainers feel that they must do all they can to ‘help’ their dog, even if they are actually making the situation worse?
For example, what happens if they are drawn on the inside of an absolute ‘bang railer’. Both dogs are at a disadvantage where in a more honest draw, they might both fare better?
One solution might be for the industry as a whole, not GBGB or racing managers alone, to consider tightening up on ‘rails’ seeds? In other words, they should only be allocated when dogs can be verified to be trap one runners with the risk of injury to themselves or others when drawn anywhere else. They would represent a small percentage of all open race runners.
Ian said: “It is only thinking about welfare. Does anyone really benefit when you get six supposed railers in a final if three or four of them might be middle seeds? Surely a middle seed in six is better than a middle seed in one?
“One other idea is maybe to give wide seems preferential treatment in acceptances for competitions. Maybe some tracks are doing that already. But at least a a dog who is 30 spots slower but guaranteed a clear run, as much as you can guarantee anything, from six, make a better race than a dog who may cause more crowding because there are too many railers in there.
“Just food for thought really.”
