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Post by BVADMIN on May 24, 2020 8:57:35 GMT
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Post by BVADMIN on May 24, 2020 15:10:08 GMT
TAKEN FROM THE RACING POST WEBSITE SUNDAY 24-5-20::Mark Bird: wide-ranging interview on Racing TV's Luck On Sunday.....Bird: Greyhound racing 'stuck' in-between Arc and SIS..... GBGB managing director Mark Bird has said that greyhound racing would not be contemplating a June 1 restart had it not secured a deal regarding voluntary Fund contributions from online operators early in 2019.
Speaking during a wide-ranging interview segment on Racing TV's Luck On Sunday programme where he also bemoaned the current media rights battle between Arc and SIS, Bird said: “Realistically the digital platform is all we've got to deal with at the moment, it did constitute about 40 per cent of what had coming in [pre-lockdown].
“... our revenue at the Greyhound Board was only solely coming from the retail aspect, so shops, [until] we secured the deal for online as well.
“Were it not for that to be the case we wouldn't be racing now. The more we can see online contributions coming in the better it will be for the sport.”
Asked by host Nick Luck about the disparity between media rights payments to those tracks contracted to Arena Racing Company (Arc) compared to the higher level of those aligned to SIS, Bird said: “We've seen a very big sea change over the past couple of years with Arc because a lot of the big tracks who sided with them in terms of contracts aren't in the same economic place as they were …. and conversely those tracks that have gone with SIS contracts seem to be doing much better.
“From a regulatory point of view my issue I have with this is, because those two companies are trying to do each other out, stuck in the middle of it is greyhound racing.
“So for me it's not trying to be the arbiter of these contracts, it's trying to look at other ways that, perhaps, tracks in the future can cut their own deals rather than going through intermediaries.
“Historically greyhound racing has always been behind the curve, my view going forward, and this is why we're about to appoint a commercial director for the Greyhound Board, we want to be pushing that forward on behalf of the tracks.
"It is not healthy to have two media companies that are carving up greyhound racing, obviously for the bookmakers' shops, evident of that is [the closure of] Peterborough which relied on footfall.
“Peterborough was a very, very popular track and I think it could be again but, unfortunately the way the industry is structured at the moment, we're stuck with those two media companies that are fighting amongst each other.”
Following on from an appearance by a confident Brant Dunshea of the British Horseracing Authority regarding that sport's return, Bird said of the planned June 1 restart: “I've always said we need the social licence to do that and I think with the plans we've put in place, the measures that have been taken and the fact that this first week we've choreographed all the trials in as safe a way as we humanly can, I think we can do that come June 1.
“The good thing we've seen around the trialling is that dogs seem to be coming back in very good fitness which is exactly where we wanted them to be so trainers have been working with their dogs, they have been getting some assistance financially around that.”
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Post by SALFORD GIRL on May 24, 2020 19:52:57 GMT
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Post by BVADMIN on May 27, 2020 14:50:11 GMT
TAKEN FROM THE GBGB WEBSITE WEDNESDAY 27-5-20:::.....GBGB Statement: Update on June Welfare Payments..... With trialling taking place at most racecourses, and ahead of next week’s return to racing, GBGB Managing Director Mark Bird said:
“We are aware that with the closure of Peterborough last week, and with Poole and Shawfield not returning to trialling at this stage, some trainers will be understandably concerned about the continued need for welfare support for their greyhounds.
“Our welfare hardship payments – which have totalled nearly £500,000 during the lockdown period – have provided a contribution towards essential welfare costs and have gone some way towards alleviating the financial pressures on trainers and owners whilst greyhounds have been unable to race.
“The GBGB Board has therefore committed to continuing welfare payments for all trainers that are either not currently trialling or remain unattached. We can confirm today that these payments will shortly be made to these trainers for the month of June. I remain very grateful for the many dedicated owners who have also continued to support their trainers and paid kennelling fees through this difficult time.”
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Post by BVADMIN on May 27, 2020 14:52:33 GMT
TAKEN FROM THE RACING POST WEBSITE::::Mark Bird: 'continued need for welfare support for some greyhounds'Welfare payments continue to 'non-racing' trainers.....THE GBGB has announced that welfare payments will continue to be made to trainers either currently not trialling in anticipation of next Monday's racing return and to those handlers who are not attached to a track with open-racing remaining on hold for now.
GBGB managing director, Mark Bird, said: “We are aware that with the closure of Peterborough last week, and with Poole and Shawfield not returning to trialling at this stage, that some trainers will be understandably concerned about the continued need for welfare support for their greyhounds.
"Our welfare hardship payments - which have totalled nearly £500,000 during the lockdown period - have provided a contribution towards essential welfare costs and have gone some way towards alleviating the financial pressures on trainers and owners whilst greyhounds have been unable to race.
"The GBGB board has therefore committed to continuing welfare payments for all trainers that are either not currently trialling or remain unattached.
“We can confirm today that these payments will shortly be made to these trainers for the month of June.
“I remain very grateful for the many dedicated owners who have also continued to support their trainers and paid kennelling fees through this difficult time."
The GBGB has been making a payment of 50p per greyhound, per day during the shutdown period.
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Post by SALFORD GIRL on May 27, 2020 22:45:05 GMT
Peter Harnden: the Greyhound Board's trainers' representative....Harnden calls for independent top-to-bottom review... BLOG: Peter Harnden The Nottingham-attached trainer and Greyhound Board directorOUR sport is currently in the most turbulent time that I and most others can ever remember. Just a few months ago I don't think anybody could have predicted the situation that we all find ourselves in. Just when we did receive some positive news, in that Towcester has been licensed to race once more, we received the dreadful news that Peterborough has gone out of business.
Truth be told Peterborough has been a track that has been under threat for sometime. Should it have been though? On the face of it there is no reason at all why the stadium couldn't have been and indeed should have been a thriving business.
There is no reason why with the correct investment and promotion that the stadium cannot still provide a much needed leisure activity to the local community.
Over the years the track has been home to countless top class trainers and also proved a breeding ground for trainers who have gone on to have hugely successful careers at other venues, we can't simply afford to brush over this loss with a shrug of the shoulders and put it down to an unavoidable loss.
We cannot afford not to fight with every breath in our body to save every track we've got left. Trainers such as David Pruhs might be coming towards the end of fantastic careers, David might not have been too far off retiring in any case, but he is still a huge loss to the training game.
The likes of David do have huge knowledge of the sport, built up over many years, we need to tap into this knowledge and use it wisely to progress the sport.
There are other trainers at Peterborough who have good kennels, are hugely welfare conscious and would be a massive loss to the sport. Trainers such as Sarah Spillane, we cannot afford to lose these people from the sport and, though it will be extremely tough, tracks must do all they can to ensure they have a safe venue at which to race their greyhounds.
This will not be easy, tracks who will continue to race may well already be facing the prospect of losing meetings, so it will be a very fine line between keeping current trainers happy whilst also attempting to work for the betterment of the sport in seeing that trainers at less fortunate venues aren't lost to the game.
At times I must admit to finding my role as trainers’ representative tough. First and foremost I am a greyhound enthusiast. Quite simply greyhounds are my life and have been for a very long time. I don't know what I'd do without them and the very thought of not having greyhounds and the sport in my life doesn't bear thinking about.
Regularly though I have to try and curb my enthusiasm and attempt to look at things from the perspective of others involved in the sport, from the viewpoint of those who are primarily involved from a business point of view.
Like any business person these people are in it to make a profit.
I don't begrudge anybody from making a success of business, indeed I congratulate anybody who does so successfully. There does though need to be a happy medium and due consideration that the majority of people who keep the cog turning in this sport are generally making very little, they are merely earning enough to see that they can work with these beautiful animals on a daily basis.
The way I see things at the moment is the existence of our sport on a professional level is very much dependent upon the finance brought in, or not as the case maybe, by two extremely rich and powerful organisations [Arc and SIS].
Without their funding it is virtually impossible for tracks to make staging meetings financially viable. As we've seen already in the past week Peterborough have closed down completely and Poole have put up the closed signs on a 'temporary' basis at best.
I am left questioning how much difference these closures will make to the media companies who now hold so much power within our sport?
My own view is that these closures will not make too much difference at all to them, the closures will though have a huge impact on the many owners and trainers who have made Peterborough and Poole the centre of their lives for many years.
I've heard arguments from some that a more compact sport could be good for the sport. We would need fewer greyhounds for starters, which would mean fewer homes needing to be found.
I'm afraid anybody advocating this route is for me advocating the medium term ending of a sport which has been part of our country's heritage for almost a century. We need to put a halt to this grain of thought immediately.
As I've highlighted previously on many occasions, as it currently stands the Greyhound Board (GBGB) is a regulator. People blaming the GBGB for this or that are in the main barking up the wrong tree.
As it currently stands the GBGB can't do anywhere near what some people would have you believe they should be. They simply don't have the authority, it's plain and simple.
In my opinion this needs to change, either the board develops a new arm which is responsible for ensuring that the sport and those wishing to be a part of it have a long and secure future to look forward to, or quite simply a new organisation is formed who shall be responsible for such. The GBGB as an organisation does a lot of things right, does a lot of things well, I ask myself though and I look around the UK at those involved in the sport at grassroots level, is this a sport that is giving those who I believe work hardest a fair living and guaranteeing them, if they're sensible with finances, a route to a happy and secure retirement?
The answer to that is quite simply no. I look around and I see a group of individuals who have dedicated their lives to the sport and to the animals they so love, the majority are destined for a retirement of scraping by and struggling to make ends meet.
You then have to say to yourself that this sport and its regulation are working for some, but it's certainly not working for those who I represent.
We need change, we need a review of how the sport is regulated, how it is promoted and we need that review without delay before we lose anymore trainers and anymore tracks from the sport.
I look at it this way, I quite enjoy a nice coffee, some weeks I go to one coffee shop and others I go to one a little further down the road, I enjoy the variety.
If one of these coffee shops began to struggle and looked on the verge of going out of business do you think that the other shop would offer to help them stay open? Of course not, they'd look the other way and, though they might not make any comment, they'd be secretly thinking of the extra business coming their way.
That might be good for the coffee shop still open, but the regulars will soon see the price of their favourite drink rising and if you didn't like it, then tough, it's their way or the highway, you've no choice anymore.
I am therefore calling for a full independent review of the working mechanism of our sport, a top to bottom review to ensure that in the months and years ahead we are involved in a sport that is fair and equal to all stakeholders.
The sport needs to run smoothly and sustainably for all and be you an owner, a trainer, a promoter, a media rights organisation or a bookmaker, we all need to have our fair and equal slice of the cake, no one stakeholder should be more equal than any other, the machine needs all cogs in the wheel to turn smoothly if we are to take our sport into the future.
It was good to get back to Nottingham in the last week trialling the dogs. It's why we're all involved in the sport. Watching these beautiful animals in full flow, doing what they were born to do is a sight to behold. We're lucky at our kennel that we have use of an excellent gallop which we have put to extra use over the past weeks. The dogs have been kept happy, we've had chance to complete a few jobs around the kennel that sometimes time doesn't allow for, at least not easily, so in one way it's been good to have a break.
We had a fair amount of pups just started off at Nottingham before lock-down, I'm just glad that they got a few runs under their belt before this break. They were ready to go and to be honest it wouldn't have been great timing had they had to wait around before making long awaited debuts. The break after a few runs in one way has done them good, given them chance to have a think about what they've learnt and given them chance to strengthen up that little bit more.
As always I am available to talk to any trainer that needs help or advice at this time. Indeed I do so on a daily basis and I'm pleased to help wherever and whenever I can. I cannot make false promises but I do what I can and if people are sensible in what can be done I'm pleased to do so.
I've heard a few calls that I should make statements on this, that and the other. When there is anything concrete to comment on I will do so, what I will not become embroiled in is gossip and speculation, that kind of thing I shall leave to those with too much time on their hands and too little education to realise the damage they're doing to a sport they profess to love.
The future success or our sport and in particular the trainers whom I'm proud to represent will not be best served by me becoming involved in such rumour, some of which may prove correct but plenty which will be just that - rumour.
We all need to remain calm and sensible and, like the wider world at the moment, deal with problems one step at a time as and when they arise.
Dealing with problems that may not happen or creating non-existent issues will only take your focus on pressing issues which must be our priority.
I look forward to seeing you all about the tracks soon......
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Post by BVADMIN on May 28, 2020 23:59:45 GMT
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Post by BVADMIN on May 29, 2020 21:24:41 GMT
Updates to Operational Policy Released Ahead of Monday’s Return...As GBGB licensed racecourses gear up for Monday’s return to behind closed doors racing, a handful of updates have been added to the GBGB COVID-19 Operational Policy.
These updates – which follow a successful fortnight of trials across most tracks – directly follow feedback from key stakeholders within the sport on implementation during Phase One. The latest version of the Operational Policy, as of 29th May, seeks to address questions that have arisen so far and clarify and strengthen procedures where necessary.
The most important of the updates now requires licensed personnel to use a face-covering and hand sanitiser at the pick-up. This is to ensure that – even in emergency situations where someone may have cause to handle a greyhound that is not their own – they are taking every reasonable hygiene precaution.
Reasonable adjustments have been added to the specified race timings, to allow for a delay of up to 3 minutes to a race before impacting on the off time of the following race. This is to minimise the impact of cumulative delays throughout the day and the subsequent length of time spent in kennels for greyhounds.
On the issue of qualification, the Policy now also makes clear that a greyhound is eligible to run in a race over any of the distances it ran in a trial – not just its second trial. For example, where a greyhound has completed a sprint and then a four-bend trial, it is still allowed to run in a sprint race going forward.
Commenting on the revised version of the Policy, GBGB Senior Stipendiary Steward Paul Illingworth said:
“Centrally at GBGB and through our field force of stipes, we have been listening and responding to feedback from racecourse staff, trainers, vets and kennel staff in particular as the trials process has taken shape.
“It has been fantastic to see that – on the whole – the Policy is fit for purpose and enables racecourses to remain ‘COVID-secure’ and safe for all those in attendance. But likewise, we wanted to use this opportunity before Phase Two begins to make clarifications and updates that will improve the running of our sport going forward.
“We continue to be immensely grateful for the support of all involved at our tracks – as well as those owners and fans who are keeping their distance until it is safe for them to return as well.
“Whilst much of the Policy remains the same, we would urge those licensed personnel that will be attending a racecourse to familiarise themselves with these updates ahead of next week.”
The GBGB COVID-19 Operational Policy as of 29th May can be found below. s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/gbgb-prod-assets/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/29182016/GBGB-Covid-19-Operational-Policy-as-of-290520.pdf
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Post by BVADMIN on May 30, 2020 16:49:03 GMT
Mark Bird welcomed the news: 'We have been in regular contact with DCMS'...Greyhound racing 'first show back in town' on June 1... GREYHOUND racing's return on Monday is now official with a D2 contest over 275m at Perry Barr, scheduled for 10.21am, set to be the first professional outdoor sporting event in the UK since March.
Culture and Sport secretary Oliver Dowden MP announced at Saturday's daily government Covid-19 briefing that competitive sport will be allowed behind closed doors in England from Monday as part of the ‘stage three’ guidance developed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in close consultation with the medical and sporting bodies.
GBGB managing director Mark Bird said: “We welcome the news from the Culture Secretary’s endorsement to permit competitive sport behind closed doors from June 1.
“Since before lockdown, we have been in regular contact with DCMS, outlining to them not only the steps we would be taking to provide a secure Covid-19 environment for racing but also our intention to race behind closed doors come June 1.
“UK greyhound racing will be the first show back in town and I am delighted to be able to say that.”
The GBGB sanctioned the resumption of trials from May 18 with all greyhounds required to undergo two before competing in a race. The last British greyhound race was held at Nottingham on March 23 after which the sport was suspended in light of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's stay home directive.
The Irish Greyhound Board has announced that trials will recommence on Monday, June 8, which is the day horse racing is due to start in the country, with the target of behind-closed doors racing from June 29. The last racing in Ireland was at Shelbourne Park and Tralee on March 24.
An IGB statement read: “The IGB wish to advise all owners and trainers that trialling activity will resume at IGB licensed stadia from Monday, June 8 under strict Covid-19 precautionary measures.
“These measures are in the interest of safeguarding Public Health and adherence to same will ensure associated risks of Covid-19 transfer are minimised.”
Owners and trainers are requested to bring their own muzzles and jackets, while trials are strictly by appointment only.
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Post by SALFORD GIRL on May 31, 2020 10:00:39 GMT
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