The other night on my way from Wimbledon I was listening to a radio interview with Ross Brawn, the engineer and technical director who is being tipped to take over from Bernie Ecclestone running Formula One. It just brought home what a fractured industry greyhound racing has become.
Brawn was talking about how Ecclestone has guided Formula One to be such a huge money making international business. They have always worked to three, five and ten year plans. Greyhound racing doesn’t seem to know what it is doing tomorrow.
A good example is the announcement of the annual awards night on the same weekend as the Clonmel Festival. There must be 30,000 at Clonmel during that week and probably a quarter of them are from Britain. Can you imagine horse racing having their ‘night of the year’ and it clashing with Cheltenham or the Epsom Derby?
The decision to create a committee to decide the best place to run the Greyhound Derby – and not include a trainer – is another example. It is just incredible – and borders on insulting.
I strongly believe that the Derby should be held at Towcester and asked 20 trainers at Hove the other night for their opinions. 13 went for Towcester, five chose Hove, one for Central Park and one for Nottingham.
I know some people will say I am biased because I am based there, but my view is based on two major factors. The first is the facilities which are the best in the industry in my opinion. Secondly, the location is as good as you are going to get. I love Hove, which along with Monmore, is just about the most helpful track I ever deal with. But who is going to want to travel from the North of England or Ireland to take part?
The one issue that always gets brought up about Towcester is the bias to the inside runners. I accept that it exists with the 480m course, but not the 500m trip which is perfect. It is basic greyhound racing. Whenever you get a short run to the bend, you always get a rails bias. It is usually more obvious over the short six bends such as Monmore’s 630, but even over the 416. It is why the short four bend races have never been popular, even at Walthamstow.
I haven’t seen the statistic for Towcester’s 500m races but cannot imagine that there is any bias. Yes, there will surely have been more railers win than wides, but they probably average twice as many runners. The Lowther Stakes was a good example of clean middle distance racing won by a wide runner.
I think there could still be a little bit of tinkering to improve it further by banking the bends a little more. Because the track is so wide, the dogs on the outside can get bumped further than necessary and the additional banking would help.
Going back to the way to the way the industry is run, I cannot see us ever making any progress until there are some big changes at the top and we look forward with a plan for the future.
I am pleased to see permit racing being re-introduced, I don’t think I would be doing what I am doing now without it.
I had a permit between 1992 and 1994 and learned such a lot, often from my own mistakes. That experience was invaluable.
I do understand the argument about novice trainers lacking experience, but there is only one way to get it.
If you are going to have novices, and it seems as though the promoters have finally realised the state the industry is in, don’t penalise someone just because he doesn’t have a kennel.
I think Tuesday’s William Hill St.Leger final must be the final of the decade.
We have in it, Rubys Rascal, Ferryforth Fran and Billys Bullet, I wonder when the last time that a kennel had three runners.
Even more amazing, all three have category one wins this year and are among the outsiders: Rubys Rascal (6-1), Billys Bullet (20-1), Ferryforth Fran (20-1).
I realize that we are up against it but I am delighted with the condition of all three and am expecting them to be at their best.
