“GBGB needs to change how it funds racing immediately or greyhound racing in Britain won’t survive.”
The views of breeders and assistant trainer Rab McNair as GBGB approaches its annual budget discussions – normally held in November.
“Take a look at the Calendar and look for the gaps: the Puppy Derby, the Laurels, the Eclipse, the Puppy Classic, the Oaks. . . are any of them going to be run? It would be a disaster if they aren’t. We have already lost so many competitions. Some of it is down to Covid, but some of it isn’t. Things like the Sunderland Festival had already gone long before Covid.
“I think there are two solutions. The first is more sponsorship from those who make money from the game. Ladbrokes/Coral have been absolutely magnificent. Can you imagine how much s*** the game would be in if they hadn’t stood up with all their competitions? Star Sports and Colossus Bets too.
“But I look at horseracing and see the likes of Betfair, Bet365, Unibet, William Hill and loads of others queuing up to sponsor horse racing. When was the last time Bet365, who make bundles from greyhound racing, actually sponsored a race?
“Big deal, they and Betfair pay into the Fund like we should be grateful! Betfair went ten years without paying a penny into the Fund. They owe greyhound racing.
“But GBGB need to re-think too. Greyhound racing is built from the top down. Everybody is trying to breed champions but if you take away the big races, nobody wants to breed or buy. We are in the dream business. It is the dream business that means that SIS and ARC have races to sell during the day.
“We have fallen so far behind Ireland as you can see from the Derby. The thing is, a lot of the top Irish dogs are owned by English people who choose to run over there because their prize money is better. We are going to miss out on more and more of those dogs.
Remaining Cat 1 events in 2020
“I realise that money is tight and that the Board have a lot of welfare commitments – which I agree with by the way.
“But not putting any money into open racing is a disaster waiting to happen. They don’t even have to fund the SKY meetings like they did years ago.
“The Board pay £5 for every graded runner which is subsidising promoters. If the Board can’t find money from somewhere else I would ringfence half of it towards the big competitions; the open racers pay their registrations too.
“But it wouldn’t be a simply a case of saying ‘here is £20K so you put on a Cat 1 race’ because we all know what would happen. Certain promoters wouldn’t put anything in and would actually make money by saving on graded prize money when the competition was on.
“No! Say to the tracks, ‘there is £20K towards the Laurels, or whatever event, but you have to match it, with or without a sponsor. Every penny has to be accounted for and published.
“I know some people will say, typical (assistant) trainer, just trying to look after themselves, but Liz and I are in a better position than most because of the (SIS/GBGB/BGBF) funded British bred races – which have been brilliant by the way. We still have the British Bred Derby and Nottingham Breeders Stakes to look forward to.
“The whole situation is heading to disaster. There are virtually no minor open races and (some) tracks aren’t even duplicating their minor opens – those that can be bothered to run them in the first place.
“Having people like Jimmy Wright (Angela Harrison) traveling down from north of Newcastle for minor opens at Romford is just madness.
“Nobody is in the business for the money. There is a lot of hard work and hardship. Take away owners and trainer’s dreams and there is nothing left. I am warning you, a lot are going to way away from the game and it will happen very quickly”
