A: Thanks for your opinion. We have not yet made a decision on the Million Dollar Chase series. It’s not just about the top tier of dogs in the country, the series is also about showcasing regional clubs in the lead-up heats before the semi-finals and final. It’s also been a wonderful platform to promote our Greyhounds As Pets program and also unite the industry under a marquee event. It’s very hard at the moment to predict where we might be after a long WINTER but hopefully we emerge in Spring with a better scene in regards to health of our nation and industry. Currently our team has been working on keeping prize money levels up at those venues that continue to race under the strict biosecurity protocols, and I do agree that our thinking needs to revolve around as many greyhounds and owner-trainers as possible under unprecedented times. I hope you are keeping well, and I’ll update the industry on the Million Dollar Chase and other events when we are in a better position to make a calculated call.
A: We said right from the start that this is a constantly changing situation and we have to continue to adapt to that. We put the restrictions and zoning in place immediately to set the process up for us to continue racing. We are not relaxing any of those restrictions, and will tighten them if we are advised to, but we have been able to make changes to our schedule to help accommodate and cater for as many participants as possible, to keep people racing and earning a living.
A: When we put our rules in place following the outbreak of COVID-19, one of those was that no interstate trainers would be allowed to nominate for NSW races. I see that Victoria allowed three NSW dogs to race at their meetings over the weekend, but apparently they were permitted to race because those dogs were drawn in fields, prior to GRV announcing on Friday that interstate greyhounds would not be allowed to compete in their events. To allow interstate participants to travel many hundreds of kilometres to race in this environment would be irresponsible. We - and the Government and health authorities - are trying limit the travel of people to stop the spread of this virus. We cannot have participants making trips from one state to another. We also cannot control what other states do with their feature races, but I note that both Queensland and now Victoria have stipulated that interstate dogs can race in their events, provided they are transferred to a local trainer. We have put a hold on our feature events and will make further announcements about those shortly, but if we are holding any feature events during these restrictions, then no interstate greyhounds trainers will be able to attend.
A: As I have said, the only reason Wentworth Park has not been racing is because of geography, and our early call to lock down racing into zones outside of the city for safety reasons. This was a call we made very early to have the best chance to keep racing, and that’s worked out well to date. When we were planning six weeks ago we didn’t know where we would end up, and could only plan for all contingencies. Wentworth Park on Saturday nights are in general the highest turnover meeting, however we are seeing that it’s largely because of the Saturday night factor. Our meetings at Bulli on Saturday nights in the past few weeks have in fact turned over 15-20% more in turnover, which is very pleasing. I look forward to when we are back and racing at Wentworth Park, but as I’ve said countless times, we need to get the timing right and make sure it’s all clear to do so.
A: Track safety is extremely important to us GRNSW and club track staff continue to carry out regular maintenance and analyse the data to ensure all tracks are safe and maintained at an optimum level. With an increased racing schedule planned for Maitland, GRNSW and GBOTA will undertake a renovation to deep harrow the Maitland racing surface this week. The Richmond track was renovated just prior to Easter. GRNSW and its contractors also just completed a major irrigation installation at Bathurst which will hugely beneficial to the welfare and safety of greyhounds racing there.
A: I have answered this question previously, but just to recap, that on the July 1, last year, GRNSW introduced significant prizemoney levels for short course racing across the State to provide, in some cases, double prizemoney that was in C class racing. This was unprecedented at the time.
A: The New England is not missing out and the once a week race meetings are in line with the traditional racing schedule between Tamworth and Gunnedah clubs. The additional race meetings at Gunnedah also have raised the prizemoney return to participants in that region.
A: The registered address of the kennels of the trainer of this dog is within the Western Districts region, therefore he is eligible to race his dogs at Bathurst.