BLOG – GBGB OWNERS REP BOB BOSWELL

I am in the process of convening another meeting of the members of the Innovation Panel, having recently failed to agree a date suitable for the majority of the members.  I have also asked if Libby Noble would like to join, as I know this was an aspiration of Paul’s to seek the views and ideas of younger people.  The agenda will be fairly simple, to review the minutes of the previous meetings, note what has been achieved, and agree priorities for those matters which still need action.

I had a meeting with another owner with whom Paul had consulted with over his Syndicate scheme, and together we came up with a couple of “tweaks”, and I will be discussing these with Mark Bird, as he is taking this proposal through the racing committee, and a I know a budget has been set aside to proceed with this iniative.

It is still my intention to attend Owner/ Trainer Nights when held at the tracks, to meet with Owners.  The recent night at Nottingham came to my notice a little to late for me to attend, even though a Curry Night sounded very attractive.  I do have access to the spreadsheet held by the GBGB on which the Owners nights are supposed to be entered, but it is presently very sparsely populated and therefore any forward planning is difficult.  I have been keeping an eye on the Maxi and Mini Owners Series races, and have already commented to one track that holding a Mini Bonus Series Final with £500 on a Wednesday, does not fulfill the idea that a greater buzz was to be generated around these races.  Communication, PR and self promotion are obviously areas that still need a great deal of work.

I had a very productive meeting with Ian Smythe Coral/Ladbroke last Friday.  Ian is responsible for Hove, Romford, Crayford and Monmore.  A common approach, and policies across the four tracks we both agreed would be very beneficial, and Ian is hoping to put things in place to make this happen over the coming months.  Ian informed that just about any subject in respect of racing and the tracks was up for discussion and we were thus able to have a full and frank talk, obviously some of those were specific to Hove, and some were more generalised across the four tracks.  Ian and I will be having a review meeting in about six weeks time, to look at progress.

One of the generic areas Ian and I discussed was the manner in which owners are treated.  The innovation panel had made draft proposals for an Owners VIP system to be adopted at all tracks, and I am working with Rachel Corden (Nottingham) to take this forward.

Hopefully I will meet some more Owners soon, and I will keep you updated with anything which comes up over the next few weeks. I should be at the Derby Final, with my Retired greyhounds selling rosettes in aid of Towcester, and will no doubt meet a lot of Owners then.