Sheffield have decided that National Greyhound Week should mean ‘a week’ and are adding additional prize money at each of its five meetings starting next Monday.
Racing Manager Andrew Mascarenhas said: “The official day is Tuesday when all the winners will get an additonal £50 on top of the existing money plus a trophy with all the runners to receive an extra £10.
“Although there won’t be trophies for all the other meetings, we will be paying the extra money for the entire week.”
The stadium are also working hard to encourage new ownership with a trial initiative that will pay the GBGB bond fee for 25 runners. In addition, they pay innoculation costs and the registration fee for any new hounds who end up being seeded as wide runners.
Andrew said: “That offer is extended to wide runners coming here from other tracks. It works out at around £280, which will be paid as prize money. It is a trial at the moment. We’ll see how it goes and consider the possibility of extending it.”
Like all tracks, Sheffield is running low on the number of graded hounds, for precisely the same reason as the rest of the country.
Andrew said: “I’m just back from holiday and don’t have an exact figure for the runner strength but it will be less than we would want, around 400. The issue is the number of retired dogs in trainers’ kennels. Some are down to 50-75% of racers because of the backlog of retired dogs.
“The stadium’s own retirement kennel has a backlog of around 60 on the waiting list and although they are typically homing between 12-15 dogs a month, it remains an issue. It isn’t too bad with bitches, they might only be in there for a fortnight, but it is an issue with the dogs.
“I know I could get more trainers in, but that is hardly fair. If the retired dog situation is resolved, I am confident that our existing trainers would soon fill their kennels with the numbers that we need.”
