Has Covid (The Silent Enemy)

[Clarkie]

Had a Positive  affect on the  the Racing Industry and Us ?       Looking back,    Things were totally out of control and heading towards a worse sinario than what our  present situation is.    The chance  to correct the direction of the future is Here and Now.!!!  If those of  you, that, genuinely love your dogs  and want, racing to return to that dream of Fairness and a level "Playing Field"  and  Have the guts  Have your say!!!  Do you want Cole/Rendle to continue Raping  the C.D. racing?  Do you want a Board of "Corruption" to continue behaving like the W.H.O. and give false information?  Greyhound Racing was never intended to be "HiJacked" the way it is at present ...     Never!! !!!    Greyhound Racing involves   Passion,    family,  and just so many other facets... and for our dogs sake and ours if we dont correct it now... A lot of dogs will suffer..and a family Tradition that started  many, many, years ago by the Battling Class, that worked, played hard, and loved their dogs... will  be lost...forever... 

[White girl wasted]

Dear Mr Clarke. I enjoy reading your posts at times and can see your point of views. But for me I sometimes think you still look at it as an amateur sport. It is no longer and amateur sport. We all know that Mr And Mrs Cole have some things they have to deal with in the future but that's for other threads. I think you have missed the boat here. Racing is a business for some now not just for the old boys club drinking beer and catching up on a Sunday. There was an opportunity for someone in the central districts to take control of the big pool of money that was on offer and Mr Cole and Mr Rendle seen an opportunity. Everybody else got left behind. They invested money in facilities and breeding and now they are cashing in. I look at it like big stores mitre 10 mega and the warehouse. They out sized everybody and it made things hard for the small business owners. The smaller business owner had to adapt to keep up or get pushed out. It's the same in the greyhound racing in the CD. No one has challenged them so now they take the dominant piece of the pie. One or two litters a year from the rest of the trainers in the CD ain't going to compete against 25 plus quality litters a season from a big business. Other trainers will win races if there dogs can compete time wise. The industry has changed and the trainers must too. It's no longer a hobbie for some. Its life and when you get to that point in your dog training carrier Mr cole and Mr Rendle are who you need to compete against and beat. So I agree in that things need to change. But not how you see it. Like in sport and life. Being bigger faster stronger smarter is key. Its 2020 now not 1985. Fast dogs always beat slow ones 9 times out of 10.

[Cockyaleg]

Good post. Yes they have a monopoly and take the lion's share, but they are not Mitre 10 or the Warehouse. What sets greyhound racing apart from giants in the retail industry, is the dogs. As sentient beings, this industry comes with a unique set of expectations, regulations, and perceptions and that is where your favoured model comes unstuck. Puppy farming is not accepted by the New Zealand public, and in this case there is an element of peril attached to breeding greyhounds for profit. Make no mistake, the public sees these beautiful animals as sentient beings. How greys are bred, reared, broken in, raced, and retired are all key factors in public acceptance of the sport. Likening the Cole factory to Mitre 10 is an extremely flawed argument.

Current information provided by various agencies tells us that racing pre-COVID was on a steady decline. Punters have departed our shores, taking with them badly needed funds. Funds vital to maintain stakes levels. Unless the government halts this exodus with regulation, these punters are not coming back. If you breakdown the domestic punting dollar, a trend emerges. Who is actually betting on the Cole monopolised races? And, what benefit are they providing to the industry? Make that information available to the public, provide transparency. The TAB's monopoly and philosophy has hindered racing and if allowed to continue as is, will expedite it's demise. The saturated monopoly does not work, monopolies do not work, the balance sheet is proof.

There are too many race meetings and too many races in New Zealand. Mitre 10 and the Warehouse we are not. The major player is Australia where monopolies do not exist. The TAB and Cole model supports thinking that is obsolete and out of touch with today's customer base. Winston has just pledged 72 million to the industry, 20+ million to repay debt we should never have incurred. If your preferred monopoly model was a success, we would NOT be in the shit right now. You all need to wake up!

Edited May 13, 2020 by Cockyaleg

[Yankiwi]

I'll throw out this idea for some thought.

Instead of trying to think of a fair number for a single trainer being allowed to run in any given race, why not let the trainer fill as many spots in a field that they want/can?

I believe there should be a strict limit on how many dogs a OWNER can have in the same race, ideally only one.

If an owner owns a dog drawn to a box, then that same owner wouldn't be allowed to either fully or partially own another dog in that same race.

If the farmers want to breed hundreds of dogs then let them, but they're going to need buyers for a large portion of those they breed or will have heaps of their own dogs sitting on the sideline waiting for their chance to race.

GRNZ should have never added extra races or race meets because people had bred far too many dogs. Dogs should be breed to meet the demand, not races added because of overbreeding. Adding the extra races have only escalated the problem.

[Cockyaleg]

2 hours ago, Yankiwi said:

I'll throw out this idea for some thought.

Instead of trying to think of a fair number for a single trainer being allowed to run in any given race, why not let the trainer fill as many spots in a field that they want/can?

I believe there should be a strict limit on how many dogs a OWNER can have in the same race, ideally only one.

If an owner owns a dog drawn to a box, then that same owner wouldn't be allowed to either fully or partially own another dog in that same race.

If the farmers want to breed hundreds of dogs then let them, but they're going to need buyers for a large portion of those they breed or will have heaps of their own dogs sitting on the sideline waiting for their chance to race.

GRNZ should have never added extra races or race meets because people had bred far too many dogs. Dogs should be breed to meet the demand, not races added because of overbreeding. Adding the extra races have only escalated the problem.

There isn't an overbreeding problem in the North, two meetings a week is all they are capable of and at times that's a stretch. In the CD 6 extra races were added with the intention of providing additional opportunities for the dogs who were regularly missing out. That was only partially successful. Your proposal could reduce the number of races in both regions. It would see C4 and 5 races on hold until more dogs were allowed to progress up the grades. C4 and 5 would then be combined for a short period while the pool of higher graded dogs reached sustainable levels. The GRNZ would not consider that as an option.

[Wassup]

I agree with some comments here,however if fields are drawn on form then the best 8 should be in the field irregardless of the owners ,No protection for owners ,why should they get preferential treatment they end up dominating most races at the cost of others just making the fields up for the high profile owners .When I nominate I don’t get preferential treatment.Best 8 in field next best 8 in 2nd field and so on .There would be a case for a variation in stakes but at least everyone would get a fair crack at the sav.Maybe some of your high profile owners and trainers may not be so keen on this idea but they should not be protected.