There was a feeling of shock at Sunderland on Wednesday night following the third semi final of the William Hill Grand Prix in which Murrys Act was put to sleep after sustaining a badly fractured hock.
Furthermore, Forest Chunk also broke a hock in the Classic semi finals. Kevin Hutton’s remaining runners were withdrawn with Patrick Janssens scratching his two intended runners in later races.
Boon said: “I am desperately sad. Murry was such a character and so soon after losing (Shaneboy) Freddie to injury. It is incredible that he still wasn’t three and a half.
“I wasn’t happy about the state of the track and said as much to Hazel Kemp when we were parading. The outside was wet but the inside was dry. The vet was really good and did his best but I was irritated that they couldn’t wait to get the next race out.
“It is my fifth year of going to Sunderland and I don’t blame the people there. But you have to put the dogs first, not worry that the betting shops are waiting an extra five minutes for their next race.
“Since this media rights thing, there doesn’t seem to be enough time for track preparation. I know Mark Wallis and Pete Harnden have written about it, I want to see GBGB do something about it.”
New racing manager Joe Frelford said: “I can’t remember anything like this in my 23 years at Sunderland. I will try to speak to Kevin shortly. It is very sad what happened to Murrys Act but emotions were very raw last night.
“At this stage I am not sure what happens in terms of the final. I will speak to GBGB and go from there. I think we have two days to re-run the race, if that is what the owners and trainers want. I will know more after I have spoken to them.”
Ted Soppitt, who had a runner break a hock in pre-race trials Tweeted: “The problem is the track appeared to be very loose as if it had been deep harrowed and not packed back in properly . I had a dog with a fracture in a solo trial prior to racing . Walking on the track in race 2 it appeared soft and loose and looked in need of water and packing our dog again come off with an injury but not a career ending like others. The last couple of Fridays the track has been great but tonight it was a disaster and for me it was down to track preparation and not the configuration of the track. I’ve ran some great dogs round there without problem but this constant digging up of tracks especially in the summer needs to stop immediately they can’t get them packed back in cos of hot weather and dry tracks . I raced at flapping tracks that where never dug up and speaking to Rab Macnair and Jimmy wright we never got dogs lamed like this commiserations to all connections like myself who had dogs seriously hurt. For fuck sake promoters listen and stop digging up tracks.”
