Following the publication of the views of a group of trainers on the industry response to Coronavirus, specifically open racing, I was approached on social media to ask if owners could get their views across.
I agreed to do so, with just one caveat, that the letters were neither abusive or litigious. These are neither, and represent the thoughts of people who make a considerable contribution to the greyhound industry – Ed
I’m firmly in the camp of if you can do graded racing behind closed doors then you can do open racing too.
This is on the basis of “what’s the difference?”
If it’s the idea that this would result in reduced travelling then to put it bluntly that’s nonsense; take Perry Barr for example, at the last graded meeting before shut down trainers travelled as well as from the obvious such as Birmingham , Coventry and the Black Country add in South Wales, North of Manchester, Leicester , Derby , etc.
The other issue is (and hands up this is relevant to me) what if the track that your trainer is attached to is very much loaded towards graded racing, how do they grade your potentially Cat 1 dog?
My own Drahbeg Dash did 28.16 in a trial at Perry Barr just before everything came to a halt, there’s no chance of finding 5 other dogs to compete with him off the current strength (IMHO), and before anyone suggests running him off the back of a handicap where even to the A1 dogs he’d be asked to give around 4 or 5 lengths then they can stick that idea where the sun doesn’t shine!
If you can do graded behind closed doors you can do opens behind closed doors , there’s absolutely no difference. So, for example Kevin Hutton can go from Burford THREE times per week for graded which is a 160 mile round trip each time. But a trainer based in Coventry can’t go to Nottingham ONCE per week for an open meeting which is about an 80 mile round trip.
Paul Gebhard
Thanks for the opportunity to my views forward.
Firstly, I take the current pandemic very seriously. I am not campaigning for an indecently early return to greyhound racing. Just that when we do return, we give due consideration to open racing.
The press release from the GBGB did nothing to help the perception that owners are an under valued commodity, openly admitting that the elected owners representative was not consulted for owners views.
Open racing is argued by many who are better informed than I, to be crucial to breeding and the overall greyhound supply chain. In your trainers article, Rab McNair confirmed he had stopped breeding until the open race position is clearer. How many other breeders might have a similar concern. Will there be a shortage of dogs next year as a result?
Many open race trainers are attached to tracks. Taking Romford as an example, a number of their associated trainers run open dogs. What’s the difference in risk if they bring open or graded dogs? At Central Park, you could have a good meeting with dogs provided by Liz McNair, Patrick Janssens, Ernie Gaskin and so on. Many graded trainers travel similar distances to their open race counterparts. Regional opens could provide a practical solution. I understand the need for limiting the amount of trainers at a track, but surely if the limit and social distancing is observed, does it matter if the dogs are open or graded?
The sceptical could be forgiven for thinking that this is more to do with money, and bookmakers demands, than it is to do with COVID 19. The GBGB quote Phase 4 as the potential stage for open racing to return. That’s a good 6 weeks off, and dogs will have been off a long time and need to trial back in.
As an open dog owner, I take full responsibility for the welfare of the dogs I own, the amount of dogs i own, and the cost that brings. I made the decision to buy them. But not at small expense, and whilst I ask for no 50p a day subsidy, I do ask that that the GBGB at least consult with owners and better understand the damage their stance is, in my opinion, doing. To the owners, and potentially the wider industry if breeding is affected. A number of owners I have spoken to are similarly unhappy and are talking about retiring dogs, moving dogs, not buying more. Is the GBGB really this short sighted as to ignore owners views, or that deeply influenced by bookmaker interests as to just simply not seek them?
I fear this has the potentially to be a watershed moment from which open racing may not fully recover
Andy Pelley
I have just been informed that there will be no open racing till August at the earliest, this goes to show that my thoughts were correct, it’s all about the Bookmakers.
Well if that’s the case I will never buy another dog to race here . I’ve spent over £300k and supported wherever I can but this is the final straw . No thought goes to the owners at all .
Please explain to me the reason behind this decision
Mitchell Brenner
In such difficult and uncertain times I think the re start of greyhound racing was the most important target once government restrictions allowed us to do so safely, for both our industry and all those involved.
I fully appreciate public perception is of the upmost importance and always has been to an industry which over the years has been fighting to regain any kind of popularity in what could be described as an unfashionable sport by some. This is mostly due to previous poor welfare standards and of course those painting the sport in the worst possible light with an agenda to bring the sport to its knees. Much of the welfare has improved dramatically recently and for that effort and planning a big thank you must go to the GBGB and to all that have made it happen and for this I fully understand the reasoning behind such a cautious plan.
My problem is not with all of the plan but some of it and some of the wording used. Clearly the working committee in charge of getting the show up and running did not have trainers or owners represented but a GBGB steward and two promotors, for the life of me I cannot understand why? Reading the plan it really does sound like a promotors plan for most and not one from the board. It states that the re start of graded races is important in order to provide content for bookmakers and also to get the majority of dogs racing again safely. Is that the message the GBGB want to endorse. For years we have been arguing with Antis that our dogs are not used for financial gain yet the plan may suggest otherwise. Should we not be looking to get racing back for the sake of our greyhounds firstly and then, trainers and owners?
Over the last few weeks or so we have heard a number of leading trainers, past and present, owners, breeders and even a piece form Australia stadia outlining the importance of a thriving open scene to the future of our industry, yet right now such races have been dismissed on the grounds of travel and non essential mixing. Nobody was expecting Opens to start up right away but were not expecting them to be unaddressed as, there will be no opens until restrictions are lifted. There’s a number of arguments and some ideas that suggest opens can take place safely following guidelines with any risk mitigated, however it appears that tracks or promotors don’t currently want them as they appear to not even want to discuss them. I appreciate tracks are trying to be loyal and provide for their own trainers and they will more than likely have too many greyhounds for races they will be staging right now but how can we deny the chance of some greyhounds racing over others.
There must be a plan that tries to cater for all, if this is not the case what does our industry stand for? There are many owner/trainers that can’t race until restrictions are lifted, there’s many unattached trainers that are left unaddressed, many specifically open classed kennels left with no outlet. It’s ok saying that attached trainers can apply to race at their most local track but will these tracks want them and will they be able to provide races for their charges? How this has been left is totally unacceptable and could be the demise of our sport losing some good people from our sport. I understand that these are hard times for all in and outside our sport but does that mean we should just be grateful and just get on with things? No why should we accept that, for years people have been under valuing themselves and our sport, know your worth and the worth of our sport and don’t settle for any less.
We are a sport that needs both graded racing and open racing, both complement our industry very well so please do not leave anyone behind, we need to stick together and together we can make this great sport great once more!
Billy Boyle
