Within the last half an hour Mark Bird’s statement confirmed that greyhound racing is going behind closed doors and that open racing has been cancelled. Meanwhile Ladbrokes Corals Head of Stadia, Ian Smyth has confirmed his company’s support of that decision.
There are other potential developments in the pipeline, not specifically from GBGB, though until they are confirmed, I am not in a position to report them.
Where does all this go? In my view, no one, least of all Governments, can predict how events will unfold. As an industry commentator though, there are a few thoughts that might be worth airing.
As Harry Findlay pointed out in his piece at the weekend, the Coronavirus may begin a renaissance for greyhound racing. Or it could wipe it out. To a large extent, matters may be taken out of our hands anyway. A complete lock-down would bring unprecedented hardship for both the kennels and the stadiums.
Quite frankly – I am not sure we could survive beyond a low number of weeks.
Given, we can’t predict Government strategy and we have no control over global events, we should at least carefully play the cards we have been dealt. Many industries don’t have those choices.
So it is important that owners, trainers and kennel staff strictly adhere to guidelines when visiting tracks. Ian Smyth’s trainers are strictly limited to two staff for the first eight runners at a meeting, with one additional staff member for every eight runners.
The vase majority of greyhounds are graders. But it is important that the tracks embrace the open race runners too. If that means Liz McNair or Patrick Janssens having all six runners in a Central Park A1, so be it. Rules and regulations on grading qualifications can be temporarily suspended.
Indeed at this difficult time, it was heartening to hear Mark Bird describe ‘a sense of unity among the tracks that I have never encountered before’.
We need that, not just from the promoters, but from the betting industry and the kennels themselves.
I will be updating the site as more information becomes available.
We can do this.
Floyd Amphlett – Editor
