Speed may become an irrelevance in racing’s future

WHILE greyhound people in NSW are effectively labeled by the state premier and much of his ruling party as being incapable of following laws, the state government of Victoria has taken an entirely different view and, following a couple of reviews, have handed the collar and lead to its (GRV) and tasked them with making sure the sport is indeed run as well as it can be.

On July 28, the GRV website issued an interesting press release regarding modifying the ways tracks are prepared, with the prime concern being increased greyhound safety.

“If we can improve , we expect greyhounds will be able to race for longer, and if they are having more starts, then fewer litters need to be bred. This will, in turn, lead to a reduction in the euthanasia of healthy greyhounds with the long term aim of getting closer to zero.

“It is important to note that this is not a case of one size fits all in terms of track preparation. Each track possesses its own unique environment and conditions, so therefore each requires its own unique preparation to achieve optimum safety levels,” Mr. Laing said.

According to the press release, Laing and GRV's Manager Racing Operations, Scott Robins, went on a study tour of tracks in the United States and to observe how their tracks are prepared. ‘…they discovered that racetracks were being prepared very differently to the methods used in Australia with greyhound safety being the overriding priority.'

“What we learnt from our overseas counterparts is that we need to be more focused and diligent in our approach to track preparation and safety to give our greyhounds every chance of achieving long and successful racing careers.

“There is a school of thought that we have been too focused on achieving , so we need to change that focus.”

GRV has flagged that as each track experiments in its preparations meeting by meeting, times recorded will probably vary by some degree. ‘Mr. Laing said GRV will collect and analyse the data over coming months and will consider publishing penetrometer and moisture readings in in the future to help punters put times greyhounds are running into perspective at the respective tracks.'

Can I respectfully suggest that, in my opinion, would be an unnecessary waste of time. As a punter, who bets exclusively on Melbourne greyhounds, I can assure Mr. Laing I do not need to know the state of the track to within a grain of sand at a greyhound's past few starts to determine whether I should consider placing money on a particular contender. Any punter worthy of the name should be able to make a reasonably educated assessment of a contender's chances by comparing its times with those of the best of the meeting.

For example, looking at race 10 at for the August 6 meeting. (box 4) was the popular pick and had won at the track in 30.04 on July 16. The best of the night was 29.81. So, Shima Song had run within 23/100ths of the best, although it also possesses a best time at the Meadows of 30.00. Drawn in box two was Crackerjack Choc, which had run 30.08 to score at that same meeting on July 16. There was just 4/100ths difference between the pair from their respective races held on the same night, which is effectively not worth thinking about. In the event, Crackerjack Choc scored a narrow win over the smart . Shima Song was fourth.

If times were the only factor a serious punter needed to take into account, then yes we would want to know the state of the track, but times are not the be-all and end-all of assessing the majority of greyhound races (thankfully).

I recently wrote on the subject of racing surfaces and asked whether it was time (pun intended) to start thinking about producing racing surfaces that are not designed for speed but instead aimed at reducing the chances of debilitating injury. According to GRV, that is something stakeholders have been asking as well at various workshops.

If we in Australia can get our collective heads around the idea that breeding for speed is not a prerequisite to breeding champions, then surely we will have made great strides in reducing burn-out rates and generating much better greyhound welfare both on and off the course.

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lone widow
lone widow
7 years ago

Duncan, By slowing down a track by deepening the sandy surface to prevent a certain injury will simply introduce another. It may prevent the number of broken hocks for example but there will be a marked increase in the number of split webbing injuries which are just as career ending. I have pointed out before in these pages that i do not believe that the track surface is the whole problem with injuries like broken hocks or smashed wrists etc.  The truth is that there are enormous stresses placed on the limbs of the greyhound racing around the tight 50… Read more »

lone widow
lone widow
7 years ago

PS.  Duncan,  I have had greyhounds since 1965, so i have seen it all. I also have an engineering background which i think gives my comments some credibility, otherwise it just seems to be plain common sense to me.

dogem53
dogem53
7 years ago

lone widow PLAYS A HUGE PART THOUGH ‘LONE WIDOW’ A HUGE PART. had a mate who was asurveyor. did an example for the famous HENRY HARRISON many decades ago,to show him the camber of the SANDOWN CIRCUIT was off. a man who built a huge slice of the industry in HH, but arrogant because he believed everything was ok. today,we still have short run ups to a bend(even damn starts on a bend) and expect no troubles because the camber for the short distance from box to bend is way to shallow forcing dogs down and crashing into each other(wont… Read more »

lone widow
lone widow
7 years ago

dogem53 lone widow  7.5 degree banking on bends seems to be a standard throughout the country, whilst grossly inadequate.  A higher bank could not be maintained sufficiently due to the weather creating havoc. Also it would tend to force dogs to congregate lower on the track (which i don’t see as a problem) but others do.

A 7.5 degree bank on a 72 mtr radius bend track, though not perfect is more than adequate. 

Apparently in the past it’s all been too hard. IT’S TIME TO TAKE THESE STEPS PEOPLE!

BobWhitelaw
BobWhitelaw
7 years ago

lone widow Must agree lone widow , Justice Mc Hugh ask Hogan at the inquiry why not six dog fields it would be safer, Hogan said it would effect his turnover , why should he worry, he was always at the Gallops!

dogem53
dogem53
7 years ago

lone widow lone widow…….MORE STRAIGHT TRACK RACING? GOT IT IN ONE MY FRIEND. HISTORY SAYS THAT IS THE TYPE OF RACING THAT HAS LESS INJURIES.SO WHY NOT? vets once informed me that even though safer,it puts more strain on the LEFT HOCK as it is the main drive force in a straight line(?) whereas the right hock takes up most of the strain on a circle(?). in comparison though, injuries and interference are far less in a straight line,and even though you still get BUMPING,because it occurs when running in a straight line,compared to interference on bends like first turns,much… Read more »

dogem53
dogem53
7 years ago

lone widow dogem53 .plus the short run to the first bend takes its toll. cambers work well providing they are allowed distance to show there true worth.the piddly distance between start box and first bend,wipes out any real gain of a good accurate camber. do you agree?

can you remember the old WARRAGUL TRACK,wher everyone was clamming for BOX 8…….obvious reason was with the long run to the first bend and a distinct camber,the 8 box was a given regardless of your form.

lone widow
lone widow
7 years ago

dogem53 lone widow Straight track racing was abandoned years ago before Sky Racing because it was less of a spectacle and attracted fewer patrons, (they’re all on sky) I make a special effort to watch Healsville, because it caters for the real speedsters of greyhound racing.  They (the real speedsters) are taller than the dogs that succeed on the circle tracks and my fear is that these special animals are being bred out. Our best dogs on the circle tracks average around 17.6 mtrs per second but a good straight track dog will get close to and occasionally break 19 mtrs… Read more »

lone widow
lone widow
7 years ago

dogem53 lone widow I agree.  My favourite track was Harold Park with it’s 190 mtr long straights, where interference was not a big issue.