Angle Park Meeting Boycotted By Leading Trainers As Potential Strike Looms

Tonight's meeting at Angle Park is a full meeting. It's full in numbers, excluding the staying event, but not full in quality. The only reason there is a complete meeting is that there was no meeting on , no meeting Sunday, and a lot of phone calls made from a panicked grading department chasing numbers.

If you take another look at the fields and take your time, you will notice the following. No Lisa Rasmussen. No . No . No . No . No Wendy Matcott. No Ken Gill. No Nadine Payne and No .

The last name on the list is a long term potential body blow to greyhound racing in South Australia. We asked Paul Wheeler for a statement, and it makes for explosive reading.

“A lot are disappointed with the decision by GRSA to get rid of the follow on . They claim they were doing surveys, but they then used the survey results as a vote. Not all trainers even did the survey. A lot are disappointed, they access dogs from interstate that dogs with marring convictions, but they then don't marr in South Australia. There is a group of trainers that are showing their protest by standing together to boycott tonight's meeting.”

“I support them, because I've had a lot of success in the past sending dogs to South Australia and New Zealand. One went to New Zealand after marring and was a perfect chaser there and won one thousand over there. I feel there is a definite need for a precinct in Australia with that lure. South Australia were that precinct and now it's limited to Gawler. I think this is also detrimental to animal welfare and the longevities of some dog's careers.”

“Australia out of the main greyhound countries including Ireland, the USA and New Zealand are the only country that doesn't give a dog a reward at the end of a race. I think SA has made a huge blunder in getting rid of the lure.”

“Victoria and New South Wales are the only self-sufficient greyhound states. Every other state relies on the supply of dogs from those two states and South Australia has shot themselves in the foot and removed the incentive. I think they have done themselves a grave injustice. I'm now leaning towards tier 3's and leaving dogs in Victoria instead of moving dogs to South Australia. I'm already moving that way.”

The follow on lure is massive in relation to animal welfare and the trainer of Cairnlea Layla provides a fantastic example of the good that a follow on lure provides to greyhound racing in general.

“I didn't have anything to nominate tonight, so it didn't really affect me regardless. I've only got eight in work, but I‘m completely behind them in what they are doing tonight. Cairnlea Layla has two marring convictions in Victoria, and she is racing superbly and has done everything perfectly over here. She is keeping her head straight and she has found a home and another option after Victoria that she might not have got.”

Another interesting topic was raised by leading trainer Kim Johnstone. It was mentioned that this decision is final and won't be revisited, one would ask why? What if the industry in South Australia suffers as a result of this decision? It might not, but it might, and therefore another “vote” in three years would make perfect sense. This could be a great decision, but it might be horrible.

“I'm devastated by the decision. I can't believe that there is no follow up on the matter. Who's to say that there won't be a swing in the vote over the following three years like there has been in the last three years. The fact that the decision is final is extremely unfair in my opinion. At the bottom of the media release it states that there won't be further reviews and this isn't right.”

GRSA CEO Matt Corby was given the right of reply and gave us a detailed statement.

“We said in late 2010 that we would revisit the issue in late 2013 and followed through with that. We put a list of questions to two industry committees, including the ICG, who are a key group, and the questions were approved. It was then mailed directly to the residence of every registered trainer and breeder with a covering letter explaining the process and why we were seeking feedback. It was made clear what was occurring and there was a process in place and the nature of that process indicated that we would potentially act on that feedback.”

“We understand that there is a group of participants who are not supportive of the decision that have made the choice to boycott tonight's meeting and that is their prerogative. They need to have a think about how this will impact on their fellow industry participants. This is where it potentially goes beyond being reasonable. GRSA will continue to run their meetings in line with the nominations they receive in the following weeks.”

“If you boil this down, all the GRSA have done is seek feedback from its participants on a contentious decision and acted on that feedback. We tried to act faithfully on what the majority of our participants have wanted. When it boils down to it, the process was designed so that the participants would make the decision. It was done by the book. The review was done, the survey was done, and then the compelling feedback was acted upon. The participants have spoken.”

The majority of the participants that have voted have made a decision in of the catching pen and this is a decision that could come back to bite them. It would have made perfect sense to have the potential to overturn this decision if industry KPI's weren't being reached. But the door on further reviews has been closed. One would hope for the GRSA participants that the decision they have made is the correct one.

Boycott's weren't a good thing for racing in NSW and won't be good for the racing in SA. Turnover will be hurt and therefore income will be hurt. There will also be a bigger divide between the two groups, whether pro catching pen or pro follow on lure, everyone involved is trying to win their slice of the prizemoney pie.

The decision has been made and the decision won't be changed. A professional board won't overturn a decision based on the demands of part of an industry.

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I know that we both know
I know that we both know
9 years ago

Paul Wheeler- if you were serious abut anything you said, you would send ALL your dogs to NZ and South Australia out of ‘animal welfare’ concerns. You are simply concerned about your back pocket and would like somewhere cheap and affordable to offload nonnies and underperformers.

SA can still be your dumping ground if you are prepared to accept Gawler prizemoney.  But then again you already said, you’d rather send them to T-3 events in Vic so drop the welfare BS please.

bkw
bkw
9 years ago

At the end of the day you cant please everyone. Of course there will be some for and some against. The survey was done on majority vote so seems pretty fair – at least GRSA involved participants and didn’t just make this decision on its own judgement. The trainers will return to Angle Park.

dogman
dogman
9 years ago

Well done to those who are standing up for what they believe is a much better system that gives dogs the confidence to chase and extend their racing career, the people against it are just sore as they now race against a better class of dog being sent to certain trainers that now wants to chase instead of not chasing forcing the crappy dogs they used to race not be competitive anymore. I know heaps of dogs that have been sent over from the different states that have improved since the introduction of the FOL and their chasing ability has… Read more »

Damien Mills
Damien Mills
9 years ago

Striking is a selfish action and only effects the trainers that want to race. Im sure there would be other options or alternatives. So the selected few are saying they are running the sport?

Adam Norris
Adam Norris
9 years ago

Wheeler is fucking the sport look at what’s happen to bates and co. It’s a joke

Kim Johnstone
Kim Johnstone
9 years ago

I could quite easily move on 10 dogs and have a terrific strike rate but I keep those dogs that win 1 in 10 or worse because that is what I want to do, if they run a place and pay their way I’ll keep them,

Damien Mills
Damien Mills
9 years ago

fiction can be fun

Jarrad Murray
Jarrad Murray
9 years ago

What a joke people need to stop sookin and deal with it if not get out of dogs . It shows we can run meetings with out u .

Jarrad Murray
Jarrad Murray
9 years ago

And u can keep ur dogs that run in the Money 1 out of 10 starts.

Paul Rehmann
Paul Rehmann
9 years ago

Strike rate is irrelevant to this argument i would think. There will be 11 winners on a meeting regardless of who they belong to. The bottom line is having enough runners to provide a product meaning a full meeting of runners. While they did get a full meeting tonight at Angle park it was my understanding that it cost them a Gawler Friday and a Gawler Sunday meeting (if i have that wrong i apologize but that’s what i have heard). Regardless of what side of the argument your on its a worry to see how much bad blood its… Read more »

Jarrad Murray
Jarrad Murray
9 years ago

Alisha Sutherland

Damien Mills
Damien Mills
9 years ago

The statistics are based on the top 30 trainers by no of wins then sorted into a strike rate order giving the most accurate portrayal of the states leading trainers. I believe the majority of the top 15 trainers at Angle Park and Gawler are for the catching pen it seems to be a selected few making the most noise claiming to be the states leading trainers when at best they may just have the most dogs

greyhoundman
greyhoundman
9 years ago

train should count as the leading trainer Paul Rehmann, its not a numbers game

Lisa Rasmussen
Lisa Rasmussen
9 years ago

I too could have a good strike rate. At the moment 14 of my dogs are on the GAP waiting list. I keep them plodding around to keep them happy. How many do other trainers put into GAP??

passionate owner
passionate owner
9 years ago

Lisa Rasmussen you and your Husband could have a good strike but you don’t you choose to take the large volume of dogs sent by Paul wheeler because he does not allow you to pick and choose or else he would find another trainer prepared to take his dogs but that is your decisions no one forced you to build so many kennels to house so many dogs and no one forced you to take them that’s up to you.  the 14 dogs on the gap list when they go they will be replaced and they maybe better then the others but… Read more »

passionate supporter
passionate supporter
9 years ago

you and your Husband could have a good strike but you don’t you choose to take the large volume of dogs sent by Paul wheeler because he does not allow you to pick and choose or else he would find another trainer prepared to take his dogs but that is your decisions no one forced you to build so many kennels to house so many dogs and no one forced you to take them that’s up to you.  the 14 dogs on the gap list when they go they will be replaced and they maybe better then the others but they also… Read more »

I know that we both know
I know that we both know
9 years ago

Paul Wheeler- if you were serious abut anything you said, you would send ALL your dogs to NZ and South Australia out of ‘animal welfare’ concerns. You are simply concerned about your back pocket and would like somewhere cheap and affordable to offload nonnies and underperformers.

SA can still be your dumping ground if you are prepared to accept Gawler prizemoney.  But then again you already said, you’d rather send them to T-3 events in Vic so drop the welfare BS please.

bkw
bkw
9 years ago

At the end of the day you cant please everyone. Of course there will be some for and some against. The survey was done on majority vote so seems pretty fair – at least GRSA involved participants and didn’t just make this decision on its own judgement. The trainers will return to Angle Park.

dogman
dogman
9 years ago

Well done to those who are standing up for what they believe is a much better system that gives dogs the confidence to chase and extend their racing career, the people against it are just sore as they now race against a better class of dog being sent to certain trainers that now wants to chase instead of not chasing forcing the crappy dogs they used to race not be competitive anymore. I know heaps of dogs that have been sent over from the different states that have improved since the introduction of the FOL and their chasing ability has… Read more »

Damien Mills
Damien Mills
9 years ago

Striking is a selfish action and only effects the trainers that want to race. Im sure there would be other options or alternatives. So the selected few are saying they are running the sport?

Adam Norris
Adam Norris
9 years ago

Wheeler is fucking the sport look at what’s happen to bates and co. It’s a joke

Damien Mills
Damien Mills
9 years ago

according to win % this was top 30 based on no of wins plenty of people didnt make list with a very impressive win %ANGLE PARK ONLY30 Leading trainers for SA as of 17th April 20141 L CAHALAN 41.17%2 K GILL 39.13%3 C SIMES 32.14%4 C BUTCHER 30.12%5 T MURRAY 29.16%6 G HARRIS 25.64%7 O CHEGIA 25.00%8 C SMITH 25.00%9 B STAMENKOVIC 25.00%10 D HOCKLEY 24.48%11 B RAWLINGS 21.62%12 R FEWINGS 20.83%13 T FOSTER 20.68%14 K JOHNSTONE 20.58%15 Y KING 20.51%16 R PEARCE 20.00%17 R MACKELLAR 18.46%18 L HARRIS 17.64%19 P JOVANOVIC 16.66%20 L RASMUSSEN 14.53%21 P HURLEY 13.69%22 L… Read more »

Kim Johnstone
Kim Johnstone
9 years ago

I could quite easily move on 10 dogs and have a terrific strike rate but I keep those dogs that win 1 in 10 or worse because that is what I want to do, if they run a place and pay their way I’ll keep them,

Damien Mills
Damien Mills
9 years ago

fiction can be fun

Jarrad Murray
Jarrad Murray
9 years ago

What a joke people need to stop sookin and deal with it if not get out of dogs . It shows we can run meetings with out u .

Jarrad Murray
Jarrad Murray
9 years ago

And u can keep ur dogs that run in the Money 1 out of 10 starts.

Paul Rehmann
Paul Rehmann
9 years ago

Strike rate is irrelevant to this argument i would think. There will be 11 winners on a meeting regardless of who they belong to. The bottom line is having enough runners to provide a product meaning a full meeting of runners. While they did get a full meeting tonight at Angle park it was my understanding that it cost them a Gawler Friday and a Gawler Sunday meeting (if i have that wrong i apologize but that’s what i have heard). Regardless of what side of the argument your on its a worry to see how much bad blood its… Read more »

Jarrad Murray
Jarrad Murray
9 years ago

Alisha Sutherland

Damien Mills
Damien Mills
9 years ago

The statistics are based on the top 30 trainers by no of wins then sorted into a strike rate order giving the most accurate portrayal of the states leading trainers. I believe the majority of the top 15 trainers at Angle Park and Gawler are for the catching pen it seems to be a selected few making the most noise claiming to be the states leading trainers when at best they may just have the most dogs

greyhoundman
greyhoundman
9 years ago

trainers  strike rate should count as the leading trainer Paul Rehmann, its not a numbers game

greyhoundman
greyhoundman
9 years ago

animal welfare a concern to Kim Johnstone since when you train out of Horse stables with no air con in summer does it reach 40 degrees  in S.A. ? 

Lisa Rasmussen
Lisa Rasmussen
9 years ago

I too could have a good strike rate. At the moment 14 of my dogs are on the GAP waiting list. I keep them plodding around to keep them happy. How many do other trainers put into GAP??

passionate owner
passionate owner
9 years ago

Lisa Rasmussen you and your Husband could have a good strike but you don’t you choose to take the large volume of dogs sent by Paul wheeler because he does not allow you to pick and choose or else he would find another trainer prepared to take his dogs but that is your decisions no one forced you to build so many kennels to house so many dogs and no one forced you to take them that’s up to you.  the 14 dogs on the gap list when they go they will be replaced and they maybe better then the others but… Read more »

passionate supporter
passionate supporter
9 years ago

 you and your Husband could have a good strike but you don’t you choose to take the large volume of dogs sent by Paul wheeler because he does not allow you to pick and choose or else he would find another trainer prepared to take his dogs but that is your decisions no one forced you to build so many kennels to house so many dogs and no one forced you to take them that’s up to you.  the 14 dogs on the gap list when they go they will be replaced and they maybe better then the others but they also… Read more »