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Post by BVADMIN on Nov 26, 2017 10:58:40 GMT
TAKEN FROM THE RACING POST - SUNDAY 26/11/17..
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Post by SALFORD GIRL on Nov 26, 2017 23:29:04 GMT
TAKEN FROM THE GREYHOUND STAR WEBSITE - SUNDAY 26/11/17 greyhoundstar.co.uk/smaller-crowds-inevitable-says-gilburn/SMALLER CROWDS ARE INEVITABLE SAYS GILBURNBelle Vue owners took over one of the Executive boxes on Steel City Cup night.Sheffield GM John Gilburn believes that greyhound racing is not unique in its battle to attract attendances and the need for strong media rights deals will only increase.
He said: “Overall, business has been reasonable this year. But if we look at our figures, general attendance is down, but ‘spend per head’ is reasonably strong. What we see happening is that the public do not have regular midweek nights out as they might have done 20 or 30 years ago.
“There is much more for them to do and they can do it at home with a bottle of wine bought at the supermarket. But when they do come out for special events, such as stag dos or birthday parties, they spend well.
“This is being mirrored in many other leisure businesses; I was talking to Doncaster racecourse who have noticed exactly the same trend.
“Even the most successful sports businesses are no longer reliant on attendances. Take Manchester United, as an example. They get crowds of around 70,000 for every home game but that doesn’t even pay the wage bill. They need the TV money and marketing in their business model. Greyhound racing will be ever dependent on a strong media rights deals in the years ahead.”
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Post by SALFORD GIRL on Nov 27, 2017 13:32:40 GMT
TAKEN FROM THE RACING POST - MONDAY 27/11/17.. Liz McNair poses with her homebred Arc winner King Dec as husband Rab is interviewed by Sky's Julie Collier. Will posing for the Sky cameras be no longer required from January?Loss of Sky can only be a negative for the sportTHE MONDAY COLUMN by Jim Cremin.EVERYONE fears there may only be two Sky Sports shows left for greyhound racing – Wednesday’s Colossus Bets TV Trophy final at Towcester, then the Greyhound Media Group Oaks final from Belle Vue a fortnight later. Nothing is in place for next year.
Uncertainty rules, with rival betting shop services from SIS and TRP/Arc instead about to kick-in from January. Neither bookmakers nor punters need all this. There isn’t a big enough greyhound population for the additional fixtures and the quality offered is likely to nosedive. My nightmare is sprints, lots of them, becoming horrible cannon-fodder to fill meetings. Worst of all, Sky faces being sidelined because Bags, which used to fund it, will no longer have the income it once did.
Showing greyhounds alongside Arsenal, Manchester United and other sporting icons offers priceless marketing. RPGTV – where at least some progress on next year’s schedule is being made – or ATR remain useful shop windows, but are hardly the same. Savour this week’s TV Trophy because sponsors and events seem likely to vanish.
Mark Pearson, Betfred’s head of media and communications, speaking at Nottingham’s Eclipse gala on Tuesday, is in no doubt of the enormous benefit of Sky’s greyhound coverage. “The game simply needs to be on there, it offers a vital showcase,” he argues. “Everyone needs to help to get discussions going.”
Of course some tracks are hopeful that the opportunity for new betting shop income opens a door to a long-term future, but the risk is casualties will follow because two services are untenable in the long-term; rationalisation, at some stage, will occur. Nobody is sure who will emerge the winner.
Events may yet play a role. A coup at any track might swing bookmakers one way or the other. Existing caution is illustrated by a ‘No Harlow bets’ reminder behind the counter of the JenningsBet shop in Charlton, home for Ron Hearn, the new Racing Post/ SIS Manager of the Year. As it stands, there’s going to be no Sky bets taken either.
Meanwhile, further evidence as to who might be Greyhound of the Year will come from this Wednesday’s Sky card which includes the Star Sports Shootout over 500m and the return of the first three home in last week’s stunning Betfred Eclipse: Bubbly Bluebird, Dorotas Wildcat and Bruisers Bullet. The Bluebird has always been a personal favourite for the way he glides round a track. If they do all secure a clear run it will be a cracker.
ANOTHER Sky showpiece at risk will be the William Hill St Leger. At least it might render arguments over the 660m v 710m trip academic. But if it stays at Perry Barr an essential is for a full week between all rounds.
The stiffer trip offers a fairer race, but not with its current quick runs between the semis and final. The GBGB should intervene and agree special dispensation.
One issue from the Perry Barr gala was the running of Bockos Alfie, who veered very wide at the last with a suspicion that the hare was a tad short on the crown of the last two bends. You had to admire the sensible words of his trainer, Patrick Janssens, who raised the issue on Sky in a noninflammatory manner.
Of course, had his dog been any regular railer the stewards might well have intervened. What made it less clear-cut was the fact it was his first time round and he is known for, on occasion, checking wide at other tracks. Perry Barr did in fact review the race, but might have done better to announce that fact when deciding to let it stand.
Tracks historically tended to drive the hare unduly long to avoid such disputes. This, though led to far more races being affected by long hares, resulting in the chasing greyhounds becoming unsighted – yet I’ve never heard anyone complain about that!
When I worked in a stewards’ box (over 30 years ago), it was one thing that irritated the hell out of me, especially on those occasions when a visiting hare driver came from another track. They assumed a distantly long hare was preferable. It’s not.
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Post by SALFORD GIRL on Nov 28, 2017 13:20:56 GMT
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Post by BVADMIN on Nov 29, 2017 7:13:23 GMT
"The Codes" refers to the same template sent to all the tracks which shows the full sequence of race times within each letter of the code.
For most of the time, it's the same codes in each slot each week.
Hence, looking at the codes in the Jan-2018 schedule above but applying them to the current template, you'd have ...
Mon-Thu morning - Codes A & B (currently the Sunday morning code is slightly different but won't be different in January) A - 11.03, 11.19, 11.34, etc until 1.51 B - 11.11, 11.28, 11.42, etc until 1.58
Fri/Sat morning - Codes C & D C - 10.31, etc until 1.49 D - 10.38, etc until 1.58
Mon-Fri afternoon - Codes E & F E - 2,08, etc until 6.11 F - 2.18, etc until 6.18
... and so on for the remaining codes.
Look closely at the Jan-2018 schedule and you'll see different codes to the usual Monday ones will apply on New Year's Day to reflect that (as with Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve) there's a 5pm closure of betting shops and, therefore, shorter morning and afternoon greyhound meetings.
It's on these rare off-normal-code days when the overall template comes in very handy for racing offices preparing their cards ... as well as those Christmas/New-Year alternative codes, there's another set of alternative codes that covers both the Cheltenham Festival and Royal Ascot days to put slightly more greyhound action into those days' 40-minute-cycle of UK horse-racing instead of the usual 30/35-minute cycle ... also, there's currently another set of evening codes for Sky nights when all 3 SIS tracks only have 11 races (to enable the Sky-track to fit in the tv-adverts time) instead of the usual 12-11-11 format.
As a very good recent example of the codes, all Poole's racing office needed to be told when standing-in for Romford last weekend was "check Romford's usual Saturday-morning code and use races 5-to-14 of it for your 10 race times".
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Post by BVADMIN on Dec 1, 2017 10:58:00 GMT
TAKEN FROM THE GREYHOUND STAR WEBSITE... greyhoundstar.co.uk/central-park-announce-new-year-prize-money-hike/CENTRAL PARK ANNOUNCE NEW YEAR PRIZE MONEY HIKE Central Park have announced significant prize money increases as they become first track to stage a race under the new SIS era at 10.29 on New Years Day.
All races will carry a minimum of £40 ‘also ran’ money rising to £50 in the top grades. The lowest grade winners will collect £100 rising to £200 for top heat stayers.
Graded hurdles are being introduced at the home of the Grand National and Springbok. There will be five grades with minimum win prize money of £100 rising to £200 and appearance money ranging from £45 to £50
Barry Stanton, advisor to Central Park, said: “These are extremely exciting times at the track and everyone is feeling extremely positive about the future.
“Our trainers are fully supportive of our efforts and are busy building their strengths to meet the demands of a five meeting a week schedule.
“The appointment of Peter Miller from Hove has been well received and new faces continue to arrive to strengthen the infrastructure to support the tracks’ development”
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Post by BVADMIN on Dec 6, 2017 13:28:54 GMT
TAKEN FROM THE RACING POST - WEDNESDAY 6/12/17.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2017 20:30:05 GMT
Ladbrokes/Coral are happy to merge with any on-line bookmaker as their high street brand is worth zippo if they get limited to £20 a spin or less on the FOBT. If any of their 4 tracks close then the SIS greyhound product collapses and they throw Doncaster, Henlow, Harlow and Central Park under a bus.
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Post by P TAYLOR on Dec 11, 2017 20:42:15 GMT
Just seen the new line up for next year on r p t v no Doncaster?
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Post by SALFORD GIRL on Dec 11, 2017 20:53:39 GMT
Just seen the new line up for next year on R P T V no Doncaster? Paul this was always on the cards.
From January 2018 Doncaster Stadium will be racing on Monday evening First race 6.27 - Last race 9.26.. meeting shown live in the shops and on-line.
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