The media rights battle, including the significant influence of RPGTV, has completely changed the open race landscape for the first seven months of the year writes Greyhound Star editor Floyd Amphlett.
| 2018 | 2017 | +/- | |
| Belle Vue | 0 | 111 | -111 |
| Central Park | 160 | 116 | +44 |
| Crayford | 159 | 102 | +57 |
| Doncaster | 67 | 122 | -55 |
| Hall Green | – | 19 | -19 |
| Harlow | 84 | 170 | -86 |
| Henlow | 72 | 245 | -173 |
| Hove | 234 | 254 | -20 |
| Kinsley | 19 | 22 | -3 |
| Mildenhall | – | 14 | -14 |
| Monmore | 164 | 118 | +46 |
| Newcastle | 37 | 40 | -3 |
| Nottingham | 321 | 235 | +86 |
| Pelaw Grange | 9 | 15 | -9 |
| Perry Barr | 0 | 138 | –138 |
| Peterborough | 2 | 24 | -22 |
| Poole | 17 | 15 | +2 |
| Romford | 315 | 395 | -80 |
| Shawfield | 21 | 41 | -10 |
| Sheffield | 279 | 158 | +121 |
| Sunderland | 62 | 46 | +16 |
| Swindon | 67 | 114 | -47 |
| Towcester | 128 | 187 | -59 |
| Wimbledon | – | 42 | -42 |
| Yarmouth | 21 | 0 | +21 |
Disseminating the relationship between facts, figures and outcome is never easy but this is my personal interpretation of what the study says to me.
The first interesting figure is the decline in the number of open races, from 2,733 to 2238 – a fall of 495 races or roughly 18%. Of those, only 75 can be attributable to closed tracks, Hall Green, Mildenhall and Wimbledon.
The biggest single loser was Henlow, down 173. Ironically, this is the venue that relied on Sunday evenings to complete its quota of three meetings per week, but is now staging five with minimal open racing. Virtually 250 more opens were lost with sister tracks Belle Vue and Perry Barr confining themselves to graded racing.
Moving on, Romford has lost its place as the leading open race venue, a position it has held for more than a decade, with Nottingham taking top slot.
There has also been significant growth for Sheffield, which combined with the Romford and Henlow decline, does suggest an ‘RPGTV factor’ with Nottingham and Sheffield now ‘must watch’ events for many open race owners.
(Is there also an irony that Nottingham’s leading open race trainer is Romford’s Phil Simmonds?)
On the plus side, the average prize money per open win has risen from £405 to £463 per race (13%).
Much of this has been brought about by tracks raising their regular win prize money eg Nottingham: £250 from £200, Sheffield £250 from £210, Yarmouth £250 from £200.
But anyone trying to make too great a connections might want to reflect on Doncaster and Henlow who raised their win prize money from £150 and £175 respectively to £250, but still struggled to attract one-off open race runners.
Harlow, Pelaw Grange and Shawfield are the only tracks who still pay under £200 for a winner.
