NSW GOVERNMENT REVIEW OF THE GREYHOUND RACING ACT 2017

The NSW Government has begun undertaking a statutory review of the Greyhound Racing Act 2017, and is asking stakeholders and the community to provide feedback as part of the review.

Greyhound Racing Act 2017 sets out the regulatory framework for greyhound racing in NSW and is administered by the Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation. It aims to set the foundations and governance arrangements for a sustainable greyhound racing industry with high standards of animal welfare and integrity.

The Act states a review must be undertaken as soon as possible three years after the date of assent - April 11, 2017 - to determine whether the policy objectives of the Act remain valid and whether the terms of the Act remain appropriate to achieve those objectives.

You are invited to share your views on the effectiveness of the Act and changes you have seen in the industry since 2017 by Wednesday 26 August 2020.

There are a number of options for providing feedback:
(GRNSW website)

complete a short survey which can be found here.

complete a detailed survey which can be found here.

You can email: [email protected]

Once the consultation period is closed:

all comments, feedback and submissions will be considered

a report on the statutory review and its findings will be submitted to the Minister for consideration

the final report will be tabled in each House of Parliament by April 9, 2021.

For further details, go to GRNSW website

Though it is `nice' to have p/m back at WP on a Wednesday, I feel that an opportunity has been missed to `regionalise' racing by giving Country NSW and piece of the `pie'. They could have had Heats, Semis and Finals (or just Heats and Finals) in the `bush'; not just for middle distance. A better cut of the pie could have been shared amongst the tracks and distances, as well as cater for longer distances. From Taree to Grafton - Armidale to Gunnedah / Coonabarabran there is no middle distance. I suspect it is the same elsewhere e.g. Goulburn, Temora ?

On one hand the CEO is talking of departing WP and then on the other he gives them $20,000 per meeting.

Do you have a view on it?

I see that the Coonamble Carnival has been cancelled by GRNSW. Are there any Covid issues up there? Is Coonamble a hotspot? Not that I know of.

Now the Million Dollar Chase is still on in Covid Hot Spot Sydney. It doesnt make sense.

One Heat only at Casino on Thursday for the MDC with seven dogs in it.

I hope viewers don't think that I am whinging for the sake of it or being ungrateful (I don't have dogs any atm), but one would have thought maybe $500 of the $3500 increase could have been given to the place-getters e.g. $300 for second and $200 for third. It makes the trip home just a little bit better and rewarding for the effort.

Any thoughts on this subject?

Not all dogs win, more run 2nd and 3rd and we should be trying to keep as many people afloat as possible which helps owners rehome and reinvest and to provide adequate return for trainers

These greyhounds that run further then 520m are somewhat of a freak & with the breeding pool now reduced, the chances of seeing numbers increasing to what was once the norm, is now total impossible. It will never happen again while we remain breeding as we have done for 100 years & that is "Breed speed to speed".

Our leaders would have a quicker & better outcome if they encouraged breeders to bred with greyhounds that could run a strong 720m.

When I say encourage what I mean is rather than budget $3500 on races over these distances, paid the breeder instead.

As we know, nobody will breed to these types of greyhound due to no confidence in what the outcome will be & being caught with a litter of greyhounds that nobody is interested in.....So paid the breeder a bonus to use these dogs. $5000 maybe $10,000. I don't no. But if nothing is done we will start seeing 300m racing on CLASS 1 RACE NIGHTS as we did last Thursday night at Albion Pk for the first time. Yes, 300m racing has been seen on that night before but it was on special events only not a FFA like last week.

Why increase prizemoney on races when you already don't have the greyhounds for theses events.

Announce a "Distance Breeding Program" instead to encourage strength in the breed. A 5-year program should build confidence with breeders. Anything less is a waste of time.

I am with your theme in the broad sense. However the fine detail of what and how to breed I will leave to others better qualified.

The overall problem otherwise is that there has been a long term decline in average field quality any distance. Your example of 331m races at Albion is not really a new deal. The signals were posted some years back when Maidens and Novices started getting a regular run on Thursday nights at Albion. More recently, the trend got a kick along with 280m races at Wenty, a fresh swag of shorts at NSW provincials and more short races in prime time in SA, WA and Tasmania.

Smaller dog populations are lurking as a cause but this also disguises the real issue which is that a higher percentage of each litter is getting a run. Necessarily (and with euthanasia problems in the background), that forces more low class dogs into the mixture. By definition, they tend to handle only short races and/or poor quality 500 fields.

So far to improve distance capability - we have seen authorities throw some extra cash at longer trips willy nilly. That has changed nothing money down the drain.

With maybe an odd exception, I do not see rewarding breeders as a good answer. Breeding is a function of market forces and should be left as such. It will react to whatever buyers and sellers want to do.

The core hassle is that bad to poor dogs are getting rewarded often by paying full 5th Grade money to short course dogs. Therefore there is less incentive to bother improving stamina, whether by breeding or training techniques. The consequence is that the 300s just grow and grow.

The immediate solution is to reduce p/m for all races below 400m to nominal levels say no more than $300-$400 and increase p/m for 450m to 700m races on a sliding scale. As you say, it would take 5 years to bring about a serious change but unless we start now the dog quality will continue to degrade. Standing still is not an option.

That is hardly a revolution it is exactly what we had 40 or 50 years ago when differentiating between non-tab country and tab or city races. At that time the rewards were equated to quality.

In parallel, the industry has to become more imaginative and more nimble is handling the left over group. Dont bugger up the whole breed by trying to tell us they are wonderful.

As a breeder for a couple of decades now (not including 2 decades watching my parents breed as a kid) you can't afford NOT to breed with speed. But if a carrot was dangled in front of the breeder to help manage this "Speed-bump", & to encourage breeders to breed "Speed to Distance", over time it may just provoke breeders after the results have been run & won.

Like I said, scrape the offer of prizemoney that has been laid on the table. That won't work. What is this budget? $3,500, 3 times a week =$10,500 x 52 weeks = $36,750 That's peanuts.

Announce a "Distance Breeding Program" over a 5 year period with a budget worth 3 million dollars.

Encourage 520m bitches to whelp litters to Group Performing Distance Sires (from any State).

Place a "Cap" of 100 whelping's annually (you won't get that many) to approved whelping's that have been nominated & suit the criteria....& paid them $5000 at whelp.

Then paid the breeder a one-off bonus of $500 for each pup from the approved litter that wins its first race in NSW over 600m.

Then paid the breeder a one-off bonus of $500 for each pup from the approved litter that wins its first race over 720m on a Saturday (class 1) at Wpk.

Then paid the breeder a one-off bonus of $2000 for each pup from the approved litter that wins its first GROUP race over 720m on a Saturday (class 1) at Wpk.

Everybody knows, punting on 720m races are a better betting proposition so these races will help pay for the budget in the long run through QUALITY FIELDS.

The first rule of running a business is you must "Spend money, to make money". That rule applies here.

PS. As we know NSW has lost the mantle to Victoria as being the best State to race your dogs. That happened over 10 years ago after never been challenged. This is a chance to regain some of the ground by bombarding an area that is WEAK, BL00DY WEAK Australia wide.

Make NSW the place to race your 700m greyhounds by encouraging this type of racing to race & stay in the Premier State.

PSS. NSW, if you need a judge to help ticking off these matings, I'll throw me hat in the ring.

The difficulty is that they do not even "help keep the fields & races FULL". Empty boxes are everywhere but the discussions tend to ignore that. EG Bulli the other day - after 16 scratchings - had 4 starters in one race, 5 in 2 races, 6 in 3 races, 7 in 3 races and 8 in one (the MDC qualifier). Wenty yesterday had three short fields, aided by the fact that 7 races had no reserves. And so on.

GRV is trumpeting about the (supposed) popularity of its added Saturday morning meeting yet yesterday's Meadows meeting had a stack of 6-dog races. SA is actually legislating for a bigger proportion of 6-dog races.

The TABCORP "betting agreements" you mention require less then 600 meetings p.a. yet we have long been running 800-900, thereby giving away more cash to thoroughbreds and trots.

The hard questions are (a) whether eliminating many short races would help or hinder the overall effort, (b) learning exactly why trainers are favouring the shorts, and (c) what damage will the current pattern do to the breed as a whole.

I think the situation is recoverable but only by taking strong action and worrying less about the number of meetings or the number of races while that transformation is taking place. If you are not promoting quality, what is the point of it all?

Are they advertising races and not getting numbers for them?

I thought there were going to have three of these races across the State per week?

Did you read in "The Daily Telegraph" on Tuesday 20 October that Thoroughbred Racing NSW announced grants from OUR NSW State Govt of $6.7 Million worth of Capitol Works Projects for Country race tracks such as Bathurst - $3.7m, Taree - $1.2m, Grafton - $1m, Dubbo - $318k. Funny all National Seats.

Did GRNSW receive any more besides from our `one off' pool of $30m in 2017 over 5 years? They generously gave us GWIC, which is now costing us about $17m p.a. when we only received $2m p.a. with an extra $2m-$4m as a start up fund for it. The response from GWIC last year was that it was costing GRNSW the same amount before GWIC was established, but that money is now funneled to them. I don't think so.

Happy punting and safe journeys.

Well, well, well. MNC Greyhound Racing has been dealt a terrible blow with Wauchope and Kempsey soon to be downgraded to only trial track status.

MNC is lucky to race one a month, yet The Hunter / Central Coast race at least four times a week. Richmond race the same amount of times. It's the old funnel the nominations into the other tracks. What impact will the status have on greyhound racing on the MNC? Who knows or cares!