James no doubt you guys were treated very badly it was a disgrace. Our industry needs every state and territories to operate so we can get stronger and stronger.

I'm not sure what anyone can do about the past but every participant can have a say what happens in the future. I'm sure there's going to be a lot more changes some good and some bad.

As you know it's a bloody tough industry to be in most would not even break even ( like us ) but we dream one day we might just get that special dog.

Trevor since you have only been in the game for 5 minutes let me tell you this. DNA was a game changer. If know any old timers ask them about the good old days re stud dogs.

As for $180 for DNA it's a piss in the ocean on what you pay to get a pup to race day.
You can pay upto 10k plus.

Haha I think Trevor is quite aware what it costs to get a pup to the track, he's a bloke who has bred some nice pups/race dogs and the sort of bloke who the industry can't afford to lose, as he backs his judgement and isn't afraid to back it up with $$$ to see it through, but like everyone I'd say ( only guessing)he'd like to see a bright future for the industry and a chance of reasonable returns on investment.
Too many rules and regulations are red tape are only going to turn people away, even if they love the dogs.

If I was running a business and watched my customer base ( future racing dogs ), decline by around 60% over the past 3 years, I would throw all my resources at getting the breeding numbers up... not re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic with absurd starters fees and juggling prize monies.

Minimize fees for breeders, and for those that go through the Pink Card process and never make use of the Card, refund their fees and DNA costs.

If they don't get more pups on the ground , they will not have to worry about starters fees.....because there will not be enough starters for them to stay in business!

Paw

But thats misguided, as in reality trainers dont produce greyhounds for racing breeders and owners do so who is more in need of financial support .. by the time a pup reaches a trainer, the breeder/owner is out of pocket $6k to $10k and needs the pup in question to earn $12k/$20k before they break even, while the trainer has only to cover running expenses before turning a profit.

There is nothing easy about any aspect of greyhound husbandry and it is really important that we remember the difficulties we all face but the breeder and the owner are getting the rough end of the deal here - by a long way

i thought with breeding down some 60% we were getting short on dogs , but apparently not ,

i would have thought good trainers are doing well with the current system in VIC

Problem is the risk of the product being 'bastardised' for the trainer to make money without earning prizemoney and the likelihood of more short course racing.

They fail to address fundamental issues in the sport

They take forever to make any decision on important issues like grading, chasing motivation systems, track safety, the drop in breeding, improving the distance range of greyhounds, provision of training facilities and funding intra-industry welfare organizations

They sit on their hands, raise costs, bury everybody in bureaucratic paperwork, make the most inane decisions all designed to ensure that the racing pool of greyhounds and trainers is diminished and reduced to a band of a handful of trainers racing short coursers who will race 2 to 3 times per week