But that does not make it right or good.

These ultra-short races offer no real benefits. They are really only jumping contests, not proper races. And providing opportunities to weak dogs does nothing to further the cause of the breed at large.

There is a slightly better option.

Go back 120m, knock down the fence and install a set of boxes near the kennels hey presto, 400m races with a direct look down the back straight. (Dont worry about the distance from boxes to lure as the dogs would soon get used to that, as would the lure driver).

Yes, it would cost a few bob but it would raise the image of the industry no end. Its called fair dinkum racing.

Normally, I would not favour any short races at major capital city tracks. However, needs must these days. But never 280m. The same goes for sub-350m trips elsewhere (Launceston, Hobart, Cannington, Albion Park or a number of TAB tracks).

272m at The Gardens

280m at Wentworth Park

They are shorter than most break in distances

Now I hear that sub 300m boxes are being contempalted for Bulli

For gods sake, where will this madness end up

But I do agree that there is no reason for putting in 300m boxes at bulli when Nowra(365), dapto(297), goulburn(350) and Richmond(330) are all within a reasonable distance from anyone that's racing at bulli

The lack of quantity will always result in a lack of quality.

Today's racing results definitely show that after annual breeding numbers dropped from 18,000 pups AUSTRALIA WIDE to just 9 / 11,000 pups, basically overnight.

I'm not saying that that number of pups whelped was the "Bees Knees", but chopping the breeding numbers by more than 50% (in my books it was more around 62%) in one hit was not & was never the right way to go regarding the reduction of breeding numbers, to simply keep those with an agenda happy.

If only the boffins had listened to those that have had experience in the game for decades, who were airing their differences at the time....when the scaremongering begun.

IMO it's too late now. Most of the "Hard-heads" have hung up the collar & lead...& left in droves.

The battle has been lost from within & it's up to those left to resurrect the crumbs.

Not even the incentive of extra prizemoney will lure most from retirement.

Its pittance compared to the joys of winning a pissy $40 race from yesteryear meetings on a Saturday morning at Moss Vale, Lithgow or Bathurst.

They were the days. Sitting on the bonnet of the car watching the racing go around right, infront of ya.

EXTERNAL LINK

what happened to all the consultants, proper track design and the like......oh my how the worm turns!

Steve,

The full quote is "Go back 120m, knock down the fence and install a set of boxes near the kennels hey presto, 400m races with a direct look down the back straight".

As I indicated, at the jump this would place the boxes/dogs somewhat further away from the lure than normal but it would offer a straight run to the existing corner. No question of a bend start.

That straight run would then be of the order of 12s or so to the next corner.

In turn, that's time enough for the field to sort itself out a bit before hitting the corner. As a result, interference would be lessened.

Having said that, I view that corner (the 280m/720m first turn) as dicey anyway - as does UTS in its studies - but that's another subject.

I agree that short races should not have a place on premier tracks. However, I was prompted to comment only because the PTB is unable to attract enough runners over proper distances. As a principle, this applies at many tracks where the majority trip is the shortest one available.

Those are the cards we have been dealt. What we need is a new pack.

Ok....So what your saying is if we were to draw a straight line down the back straight & continue that straight line past the 280/720m boxes for another 120m, we could run 400m races, should funds be available. Is this correct?

People thought the Indians were crazy for pushing 20/20 cricket.

......

I know, I know, (the dogs) its just not cricket.

And now cricket is just a hit and a giggle

Gillian,

Absolutely, but we have been told for years that it is an engineering impossibility (still not sure how valid this is).

More to the point is that Wenty is poor from almost any angle - always has been. In truth it needs a total rebuild but lease issues etc keep frustrating any move in that direction.

My current suggestion had two aims - (1) an attempt to make a lousy race more palatable and (2) to illustrate that innovative approaches are both desirable and possible at existing tracks.

I could offer a couple of dozen more examples of such improvements (and have done so over the years), some of which would not cost a fortune, but our decision-makers keep ignoring the problems or stuffing up the alleged solutions, or repeating previous errors. The most recent was big bucks spent on Gosford where a bend start 400m was replaced by a bend start 388m.

Best suggestion of all