👀 GENERAL NEWS in 2023 👀

[SALFORD GIRL]

INFORMATION VIA THE GREYHOUND STAR WEBSITE




Yesterday, Entain presented all their trainers with a briefing document, The Inside Track. It includes a review of major developments within the company’s four stadia over the last year and also announcement of future plans, some of which are imminent. Others take the form of policy statements and ambitions.

I don’t intend to repeat the content of the entire contents in this column – the original can be read here –https://greyhoundstar.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/1-Entain-Inside-Track-Trainer-Briefer-LR-1.pdf

but I have had the chance to study the detail and ask questions of its author, Leo Walker. I also had the opportunity to digest and reflect on the overall substance of the document.

While each of the initiatives has merit in its own right, what I personally found particularly interesting was its apparent ‘direction of travel’. Unless I am mistaken, I detect a significant shift in the relationship between Entain and its trainers.

(Let us be clear on this – this document is directed at the trainers, not the owners. That in itself will create some angst on social media, but it should not detract from what is going on here. Walker has indicated that there will be future initiatives for owners.)

The starting point is the author, Leo Walker. When Entain’s former Director of Stadia Ian Smyth left the company, his role was split in two, between Dan Shepherd, running the commercial side of the business and Paul Illingworth who took responsibility for racing.

Leo Walker became their boss following a compamy restructuring, which in itself should be good news for the industry, because he is the most senior holder of that position to acutally understand dog racing.

Leo first went to Monmore when he was four, his father Chris was the odds returner at the track for many years. Leo certainly knows his way around the industry and has experience as an owner.

Not that the new boss would need expert insight to spot that greyhound racing has a runner shortage. There are a proliferation of empty traps across the industry. All four Entain tracks are among those advertising for new trainers.

The simple solution has traditionally been – to throw £££££ at it.

The Entain contracts are among the most lucrative in the industry. Nick a few trainers from less well paying neighbours. Job done.

But it isn’t that simple is it?

Leo took a long hard look at the situation and realised that the problem isn’t a shortage of trainers or even greyhounds.

The problem actually is the re-homing logjam.

Nationally some kennels have up to 50% of their kennel spaces taken by retired dogs who cannot be re-homed due to lack of space at re-homing kennels.

Entain haven’t revealed their ‘waiting to be rehomed’ figures but across the four tracks it is likely to be in the low hundreds. It is arguably the biggest crisis currently facing the industry and beyond. The national media continues to produce stories of animal shelters in crisis due to a surplus of post pandemic abandoned pets.

So, one of Leo’s first initiatives is to boost the homing bond by £200 to £600 for Entain greyhounds being placed in affiliated rehoming kennels. A huge incentive to prioritise ex-racers.

Now there will be some owners and trainers at non-Entain tracks who will resent what Entain are doing. They will probably find it even harder to place dogs.

(Expect some whining on social media)

But quite frankly, that isn’t Leo Walker’s issue.

His priority is his own trainers.

Why undermine them, and their financial stability, by bringing in more trainers?

Freeing up kennel spaces is a priority to enable the stadium trainers to earn a decent living with ‘paying’ dogs and the appointment of a new post of homing coordinator should take some of the administration burden off of the handlers.

It doesn’t mean that the Entain tracks are ‘closed shops’. They will continue to advertise to replace trainers deciding to move on, cut down or retire. The objective though is to stop simply adding to trainers numbers.

But it isn’t a ‘free shot’. Even to enter the scheme, every dog submitted by every Entain trainer will have to comply with a full veterinary checklist to include neutering, clean teeth, nails etc.

A great plan, but only half the issue.

If there were less injuries, there would be a need for less dogs and less re-homing headaches.

The new boss has been going through injury data with a fine tooth comb. We are not just talking numbers of injuries, but also types of injury.

Hence, when a confidential study revealed a significant number of lower limb injuries at Monmore, Walker checked into greater depth and identified issues relating to sand contamination from speedway shale. There were also problems associated with the compacting of the greyhound track where speedway machinary passed over it.

He made the decision to dispense with the speedway operation and has faced a torrent of abuse in the local media. Indeed, the injury study that had been passed onto an unnamed local politician somehow found its way into the Express & Star newspaper.

But Monmore wasn’t the only track with unacceptable injury rate!

Having gone through the data provided by Dr Christian Spring, the STRI expert who has been studying greyhound surfaces back to BGRB days, Leo was shocked to learn that much of his advice had been consistently ignored.

Sure, the company had spent fortunes of new racing circuits, but had often, literally gone off track when it came to the surfaces themselves.

(Not a mistake that Sheffield made. They stuck robustly to the advice given by Dr Spring and GBGB’s Track Liaison Mark Peacock and Owlerton has probably never raced as consistently well in its history).

Another initiative – going forward – it will be a responsibility of a designated Entain employee to continuously and meticulously monitor injury data at all tracks in an attempt to identify hot spots and act instantly as situations develop.

More money has been, and is being, ploughed into upgrading veterinary facilities at the four Entain tracks. We will report on those details as these develop.

Perhaps the biggest change though, isn’t in the treatment of the dogs, but the trainers themselves.

Entain is a massive employer which has always offered significant additional benefits to its employees.

Although the trainers and their kennelstaff are not ’employees’ per se, Leo Walker has introduced some of the company benefits to the trainers. One of the first is an annual review of trainer retainers.

There will also be an employee assistance program. This will give trainers and their staff an opportunity to speak to someone should they experience major difficulties in their private lives. These may be as diverse as issues as personal or financial issues and include mental health care.

Allied to this, there is a code of conduct to which all trainers and stadium staff must comply, along with a ‘whistleblowing’ and escalation route should any staff feel they have not been treated fairly or within their legal rights.

Now that is long overdue in this industry, and sets a standard for others to follow.

[SALFORD GIRL]

[SALFORD GIRL]

** PLEASE NOTE **

'2' XTRA RACE MEETINGS
AT THE OWLERTON STADIUUM THIS MONTH.




Sunday 18th June 2023 (Afternoon)
SHEFFIELD replaces Central Park.

Wednesday 28th June 2023 (Evening)
SHEFFIELD replaces Central Park.

[SALFORD GIRL]

HAPPY 80th CAPTAIN BOB

GRA’s former Senior Racing Manager (and Luton Town fan) Bob Rowe
celebrated his 80th birthday on Thursday {8-6-23}.

He said: “As of yesterday I’m now in Octogenarian grade !
I had a great day, the highlight of which was a video message from Mick Hartford at Luton Town.”

Bob has accepted an invitation from Kim Sanzone
on behalf of Star Sports, as a guest at the Derby lunch.

[SALFORD GIRL]

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[SALFORD GIRL]

~ Independently verified track injury and retirement data shows that licensed greyhound racing continues to uphold the highest standards of welfare ~

~ Homing, Fatality and Injury Rates remain consistent with (and in many cases better than) last year which showed significant improvements since 2018 ~

~ Data shows more greyhounds are being successfully treated following injury and able to retire to enjoy life as pets ~

~ Data shows that initiatives launched in recent years are having a positive impact on welfare ~






The Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB), the regulator of licensed greyhound racing, is today publishing its track injury and retirement data for the sport in 2022. The data is consistent with and – in many cases – an improvement on the data for 2021 which demonstrated significant progress compared to previous years.

GBGB is required by DEFRA to publish annual injury and retirement data by the end of June the following year. As part of its commitment to transparency and accountability, the data published by GBGB is independently audited and goes beyond what has been asked for by DEFRA.



The data published today shows strong progress on a number of key indicators – all of which signal that not only is GBGB consolidating the excellent progress it has made in recent years but it is continuing to drive welfare standards forward throughout the sport.



Most notably, the data shows:

Despite the current economic situation and associated general challenges in homing dogs being experienced by the canine charity sector, the number of greyhounds successfully retired from the sport remains high at 95% thanks to initiatives such as the Greyhound Retirement Scheme which means a greyhound’s retirement is secure before they start their racing career;
The track injury rate has remained consistent at 1.2% of all runs and GBGB remains committed to reducing this figure over the next few years;

Fewer greyhounds than ever were put to sleep or died naturally over the course of the year; overall, 306 greyhounds were put to sleep or died naturally in 2022; in 2018, the comparative figure was 932 representing a reduction of 67%. Greyhounds are put to sleep for a number of reasons – some of which are not linked to racing such as illness and natural causes.

More greyhounds are being successfully treated following a track injury; in 2022, the number of greyhounds put to sleep at the track on humane grounds was 99, compared to 120 in 2021 and 242 in 2018 (a reduction of 59%). Away from the track, in 2022, 43 greyhounds were put to sleep on vet’s advice compared to 74 in 2021 and 144 in 2018 (a reduction of 70%).

This reduction is in part due to the enhanced veterinary expertise across the sport as well as the additional checks GBGB now carries out to ensure that trainers are following the track vet’s advice following an injury;

The sport continues to make excellent progress in reducing economic euthanasias; like last year, very few (ten) greyhounds were put to sleep because of the cost of medical treatment; in 2018, this figure was 175 (a reduction of 94%).
For the fourth year running, no greyhounds were put to sleep because no home could be found.


Through the implementation of its welfare strategy, A Good Life for Every Greyhound, which was launched last year, GBGB aims to drive further improvements. These include a host of initiatives around enhanced training for trainers, track staff and vets as well as continuing to work with track safety experts, STRI, to make racing surfaces safer, promoting British breeding and further research into injury detection and prevention.

Through the strategy, GBGB has already enhanced its veterinary resource and expertise as a result of the appointment of a Veterinary Executive and a field force of Regulatory Regional Vets. These vets are providing additional advice and guidance to trainers, owners, track vets and stadia so that they can provide better care and treatment to greyhounds.

Commenting on the progress achieved, Mark Bird, Chief Executive of GBGB, said: “This data once again demonstrates the significant improvements we have achieved in welfare over the past few years. It shows that the approach licensed racing is taking is the right one and demonstrates our ongoing to commitment to safeguarding the health and wellbeing of our racing greyhounds.

“Over the past year, we have begun the roll-out of our ambitious welfare strategy and it is fantastic that a number of initiatives are already underway and delivering benefits – particularly around our enhanced veterinary resources. I would like to thank everyone across the sport who has supported our strategy and has played their part in its implementation.

“We are whole-heartedly committed to raising standards further and I have every confidence that we will continue to do so. As we said last year, to realise our strategy in full requires enhanced, long-term and sustainable funding from the betting industry. We continue to work closely with them and show how the successful implementation of the strategy is vital for the future prosperity of licensed greyhound racing in this country.”

Commenting on the 2022 data, Jeremy Cooper, GBGB Chairman, said: “The GBGB Board welcomes this data which provides an accurate and credible picture of welfare within licensed greyhound racing. It is encouraging that the sport has consolidated the excellent progress that it has made in recent years and, in a number of cases, seen further improvements.

“Whilst there are those who seek to undermine our welfare standards and discredit the immense progress we have made, I am heartened by this data which provides firm, unequivocal proof that licensed racing takes the welfare of our greyhounds extremely seriously. This sits in stark contrast to those who attack our sport and who are yet to offer any credible scientific or factual-based evidence that justifies their criticism of us.”

Animal Welfare Minister Lord Benyon said: “Greyhounds deserve the highest level of care not only during their racing career but also in their retirement.

“It is reassuring to see a continued upward trend in improvements to greyhound welfare and that progress made last year, especially in reducing the number of greyhound fatalities at tracks, has been sustained, and I look forward to seeing what further improvements can be delivered through the Greyhound Board of Great Britain’s welfare strategy, A Good Life for Every Greyhound.”

[SALFORD GIRL]