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If Greyhounds can only have one turn to race safe? Turn the lights out.


Chief Stipe

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Bombshell report casts doubt over two-turn Victorian greyhound racing

The Meadows is the home of the Australian Cup and The Phoenix.
The Meadows is the home of the Australian Cup and The Phoenix.
 
 
By Adam Dobbin
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Traditional two-turn greyhound racing at Sandown Park and The Meadows could well become a thing of the past following the release of Greyhound Racing Victoria's (GRV) Infrastructure Discussion Paper on Wednesday.

Now open for industry consultation, the eagerly awaited report – which has been months in the making – serves to futureproof the Victorian greyhound industry with the establishment of a 10-year strategy for its racing and training facilities throughout the state.

Yet in a bombshell move, GRV has thrown the future of two-turn metro racing hot on the agenda, following extensive and at times robust discussions with the two city clubs last year, honing in on the prospect of selling the two highly valuable venues before consolidating and reinvesting the assets into a brand new all purpose venue. 

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Sandown Park home of the Melbourne Cup. Picture: Supplied

The vast paper identifies two main options for the future of metropolitan racing, the relocation to a new multipurpose site "which could underpin the next 25-30 years' of industry needs" or assessing alternative track design options "to improve greyhound safety" at the current city venues.

In releasing the report, GRV chief executive Stuart Laing said the future infrastructure strategy is vitally important for the long term sustainability of the industry.

"The release of this discussion paper comes at a critically important time for Victorian greyhound racing as we embark on the opportunity to consider what the sport should look like for the next 30 years," Laing said.

"With future options for racing and training in the Cranbourne and Southeast region being developed and track upgrades necessary at The Meadows and Sandown in the next five years, now is the time to assess our options carefully to ensure the long-term growth and sustainability of the industry.

"Considerations for the potential development of a greenfield site in the Southeast also allows for participants to imagine what a purpose-built facility might add to greyhound racing in Victoria.

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Greyhound Racing Victoria CEO Stuart Laing, Picture: Supplied

"Investment in racing and training infrastructure is a key strategic priority for GRV and our Clubs and decisions about how that is best done need to be formulated in the best interest of the industry and our participants."

With a network of 13 tracks across the state, the discussion paper identifies a range of upgrades and improvements proposed for each venue.

Of the 13 tracks, only Sandown Park and The Meadows are two-turn venues, along with the inner-track at Geelong which is sparsely used.

Stakeholder consultation ends on March 31 at which time GRV will begin finalising the future infrastructure strategy for the industry.

"GRV looks forward to attracting the thoughts and ideas of all participants and encourages anyone with an interest in the sport to make a submission and have their say on shaping the sport's future racing and training infrastructure footprint," Laing added.

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Hinsdale was a safe two turn track.

image.jpg.10d7549ba69994a8b4d0e573f99b31c4.jpg

Get the track composition & surface correct. Everything else will settle nicely into place. 

Notice the much more gradual entry into the corners are at Manukau compared to Hinsdale.

image.png.3b9bfee12c3d6cac7d4fe8385471b64f.png

 

Hinsdale front & back stretch are much longer and there is less distance through the infield between them.

The corners are on a much tighter radius.

A slower surface and tighter corners made the dogs go slower going into & through the turns.

Because of the camera angles, Hinsdale's backstretch is on the bottom of its photo while the Manukau image has the the backstretch at the top of its image.

 

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I don't need to manipulate the data. The RIU & RIB have done plenty of manipulation already in their Stewards reports.

If I didn't care about the industry, the data as it was reported is far bad enough (especially with the Auckland track in recent years) to turn the light switch off unless GRNZ plugs the leaks in the sinking ship very soon.

But I do care about the industry. I've spent numerous hours of collecting data from over many years of censored, confusing and deceptive Stewards reports. That's why I didn't record any dogs that "received a leg injury" yet didn't receive an injury stand-down. I know what it meant, I have a picture of one of them on my lounge wall. Besides, anyone with a slight bit of knowledge of the industry knew what it meant. I did not record incidents such as those as an injury. It's not in the industry's best interest if I had. They tried to hide it, but that tactic didn't stack up well when the do-gooders asked where 100's of unaccounted-for dogs were & they had no answer. That was one of GRNZ's major failings, not the straightforward data, free for anyone to collect, I've taken the time to collect & share.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Another pointless presentation & more fake news for you Chief.

If Sandown & The Meadowlands are under the heat for being dangerous two turn tracks, as in the bombshell report Chief first posted, how are NZ two turn tracks comparing to them?

Data retrieved & correlated for all race meeting held on each of the tracks during February 2024.

 

image.png.3d5d2ef0db8cb5e024c0b5eb97154770.png

 

You'd better find that light switch Chief.

Edited by Yankiwi
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7 minutes ago, Yankiwi said:

Another pointless presentation & more fake news for you Chief.

If Sandown & The Meadowlands are under the heat for being dangerous two turn tracks, as in the bombshell report Chief first posted, how are NZ two turn tracks comparing to them?

Data retrieved & correlated for all race meeting held on each of the tracks during February 2024.

 

image.png.3d5d2ef0db8cb5e024c0b5eb97154770.png

 

You'd better find that light switch Chief.

Well you're the one with your hand on it!

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1 hour ago, Chief Stipe said:

Well you're the one with your hand on it!

GRNZ has their hand on it.

When they talk about race day welfare, that's as far as it goes. All huff and no puff.

Where's Manukau's safety rail? You know, the 2014 one, or the Nov 2023 one, or the Jan 2024 one. I didn't see one today. I understand Goldstar Hans was watching today & looking for it as well.

I'm the bad guy. Got it.

GRNZ has a Racing Operations Manager that lied to their own welfare committee about recent (at the time) injury rates. He's the one in charge & he's got this.

How dare I question him!

Edited by Yankiwi
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