It has already become an accepted ‘fact’ that the media rights battle has resulted to too much racing. But is it true?
In reality, since the start of the year and close of play on Wednesday, there had been 12,596 races staged. For the equivalent period in 2017, the figure was 12,352.
So there has been an increase in racing, but only by around 2%.
Why does it seem so much more?
Well there are several reasons. For example, a track like Henlow has seen its race load rise by 76%. Doncaster has virtually trebled its races – from 173 to 538. But the impact has been negligible at many other tracks – Romford have actually staged two races less than last year.
There are two main reasons for the comparative status quo. The first concerns the Beast From The East – major and minor.
The second is the removal from the landscape of Hall Green and Wimbledon with 585 races between them.
So has the nature of racing changed? From the start of year until Wednesday night there had been 778 open races. For the same period in 2017 the figures was 868 – a decrease heading for 12%.
And the runners? The most active runner in 2017 was Romford’s Jaytee Hollywood with 65 races, followed by another seven greyhounds with more than 60 races.
The most active hound in 2018 is Denville Tom (Harlow) with 17 races followed by eight runners with 16 races each.
Spread over a 52 week year – if they continued on the current schedule – the busiest dogs would be contesting between 72 and 86 races.
