Ireland’s racing authorities and greyhound public will be preparing for an RTE expose this evening . Contrived from a report apparently prepared for the Irish Government, it is hard to see where or how the errors, glaring omissions or bad maths were interpreted writes Floyd Amphlett
Quoting from the report on which the RTE story is based: ” It said on average an estimated 5,987 greyhounds, which were available to race, were culled each year. The reasons for the cull were broken down as follows – “those who failed to produce qualifying times” (2,673); “failure to produce desired entry level times” (1,989) and an “unacceptable decline in performance” (1,326).”
Now after 47 years in the greyhound industry, I cannot pretend to make sense of any of this. These times – of which they speak – how to they relate to ‘culling’? Who made that leap?
Are we suggesting that because a greyhound didn’t record a qualifying time, it was destroyed? I have known of hundreds and hundreds of dogs who have been exported to sales and individuals in England who didn’t achieve qualifying times – often after only one trial – before being exported.
Some of the leading UK owners and trainers, Mark and Hayley Keightley, as examples, frequently unveil their future open race stars with blank Irish cards.
So how about an entirely different view on the figures? A view that doesn’t involve huge gaps and interpretation?
1) In 2017, Irish breeders registered 2,441 litters. Assuming that Irish greyhounds are very similar to English greyhounds (not a huge leap since 95% of British runners were Irish bred), those litters would have produced 15,280 pups. That is based on an average of 6.26 pups per litter.
2) Hundred of those pups would have died between birth and adulthood. In some cases complete litters would have been lost to due disease and infection. Many others would have been fatally injured while growing up – greyhound are reared ‘free range’ after all.
3) In 2018, GBGB registered 7,392 pups of which between 90-95% would have been Irish bred. That is heading for somewhere between 45-50% of the total. The numbers would have been small, but other hounds would have been exported to Continental Europe, Britain’s independent tracks, Australia, Pakistan, the USA etc. Many top breeders including the Dunphys, Ian Greaves and Liam Dowling would not consider putting their future broods on the track.
4) Where are the coursing dogs in this grand summary? There are hundreds of litters born every year, purely and specifically for hare coursing? Never destined to go on a track. Look at the dozens of meetings, held throughout the Irish winter leading up to the Clonmel Festival in February.
5) What about all the Irish runners who never make the trip abroad? Last week, Ireland staged 374 races, the majority containing six runners. Some of those dogs may not now get another race for the next two or three weeks and many will never leave Ireland.
Finally – it might be worth pointing out that Irish greyhound breeding is currently the lowest in more than 70 years. In 2018 the number of litters was down again to 2,344. Back in 2003, it was 4,827.
So RTE – why do you think the IGB didn’t want to take the report seriously – but surprise, surprise, – you do?
This is sensationalist bullshit, dressed up as journalism.
