Trainers meeting Wimbledon Thursday

nah management have got a beauty deal with a local paint shop thats closing down

trainers and kennel staff called in to help paint the stadium B-)

End of Tuesday nights ??

perhaps they could ask norah what she was playing at in the 9-58 race tonight!!

bring back the jacket potato stall......must have had 4 a night when i used to go.....chilli and cheese...curry...beans....

itsaknockout!! 10 Nov 22:01
perhaps they could ask norah what she was playing at in the 9-58 race tonight!!

whats that he 'good thing' 3/1f getting turned over by her 'rag' 4/1 outsider in an amazing 28.76??

Call the police

Not only trainers. It seems all the full time staff have been called to the same meeting.

This doesn't sound good.

If the place was shutting I reckon the wonderful GRA would have just shut the doors, so the fact that they are gathering staff together hopefully means there is something to discuss.

The rumours are that it is closing, it is stopping Tuesdays, or that a potential BAGS contract is available.

I reckon the second option is most likely, although with the Oaks coming up in a couple of weeks, it means they couldn't introduce it until after Christmas.

sj

I would have 2 as favourite aswell, followed by 3.

no more tuesday nites and 2 trainers to go, was what i was told yday.

oh the irony if norah was to be removed and become one of 'you lot'.....

Post says it the news is "positive". Surely wouldn't call a meeting to announce two trainners going.

Its getting worse and worse. And I dont like this Sky Tv deal being in-the-air. Powers that be need to do something pretty quickly.

catford - cos the racing post have got their fingers on the pulse aint they???? i'd be surprised if those clowns have got the date right in the top corner of the page.

i hope its good news, because my last 2 dogs are racing there and, if it does go to 2 meetings a week, then my sizable kennel bill, will go to extortionate.

2 trainers 2 go :-( please not simmo

Tuesdays scrapped.
Grandstand closed, everyone in the Mick the Miller.
No trainers sacked.

Never the same gaff since the jacket potato woman was booted out

I hate being right all the time :(

sj

wow the premier stadium, how many times will it race a week now 2 or 3?

How can the track without bags racing operate on only 2 nights without sacking trainers. Owners are being asked to pay between £6-£8 a day for their dogs that will be lucky if they get 2 runs a month. Its a joke, think its time to move my dogs,especially as romford and crayford pay much better. Just wonder if many others will follow as it the owners that always get shafted. All the other tracks that have lost tuesdays have bags to fall back on. The track is keeping pocession of the grandstand and car park until such time as market prices go up, then we'll see a 24 hr tesco, as least it will probably guarantee dog racing at wimbledon through the mick the miller stand.

tuesdays cancelled
redundancies of staff in new year
moving to the other side of stadium
worrying times.

oh yes glad the md came back from his luxury pad to give the staff the news.

sounds like catford all over again.

Thought the Mick the Miller Stand wasn't up to scratch on Health and Safety grounds??

They're going to be spending money over the mick the miller, with a restaurant in place. Its not worrying for wimbledon as it secures greyhound racing, more over its worrying for greyhound racing in general.

thats the cheap side only be £3 to get in

will they move the winning line

Yes fishman

Well done The Post, clueless mugs, the end is nigh

I wonder what difference it will make to the Derby, now that the third bend is the first bend and the infamous first bend is the third bend.

If the Derby stays there of course.

where else could it go fenway?only 1 track in country that seems to be doing well is monmore and thats because of all the party packers

moving the dog derby is now a certainty

that mick the miller stand is a **house

ban coming lol

seanjames is half right downstairs not bad upstairs a s..thole

How can they asccomadate a derby crowd in the mick the miller ?

WALOFS, building a 200 seat restaurant in there as well ,

theres only one **g door out of the place .their moving

the winning line ,what about the rennels/paddock wheres that going

on the roof ? Ive never heard such a complete load of old**

in my life ..

Was anyone from the post there? to ask questions,like , who is making these decisions ,and basically WTF is going on ? is what needs to be asked ..

The Derby cannot possibly be run from traps on the far side ,this

is pure jacknnory I.M.O,why wasnt the track given a bags contract ?

what are the GRA GB FOOOKING GB or any other of the dozey

foookers that have destroyed this sport going to do about this .

fooooking hockey pitch to be built in the middle will be the next news.

what they are moving the traps to the other side please can someone explain this i dont understand how will this work

Major Wimbledon overhaul announced

By Paul Brown

THE GRA yesterday announced sweeping changes at Wimbledon in an attempt to safeguard the long-term future of the track.

From January 1 next year, the track will be dropping its Tuesday racenights, and is to mothball the main grandstand, switching operations to the Mick The Miller stand, which is to revamped and renamed 'The Grandstand'

Full details in Friday's Racing Post

Should be interesting to see whats said 2moro

How many owners will now walk away from the track, dogs will be lucky to get 2 runs a month and the run/prize money is woeful there aswell, cant see anything good to come out of this :(

This is the end of dog racing in London,the GRA or Risk capital have made their intensions clear they have run the track down since they bought Wembley PLC. Wimbledon has gone downhill no investment and CUTS CUTS CUTS. HANG YOUR HEADS IN SHAME THE MANEGMENT OF WIMBLEDON.You dont deserve the regulars that go to your track as customers. You treat your owners like TRASH and its now paying you back. God help greyhound racing as I think a miracle is now needed.

Time for owners to vote with their feet and move their dogs. Romford, Crayford or Hove anyone.

Seen this coming for a long time but begs two questions.

1. Given that Wimbledon stage the majority of the Sky meetings on a Tuesday, Does this mean that Sky have pulled the plug or will Tuesdays be on for Sky meetings

2. It is a well known fact that the number of Sky meetings with guarantted sponsors had dwindled markedly. Does this mean the death nell for Sky racing

As for the Mick The Miller stand, that obviously cannot cope with a Derby crowd

betty, still no sky deal done yet so thats another worry, will there be any coverage on sky next year ? hope there is but seems to be taking a long time to get a deal done

This is the end of dog racing in London,the GRA or Risk capital have made their intensions clear they have run the track down since they bought Wembley PLC. Wimbledon has gone downhill no investment and CUTS CUTS CUTS. HANG YOUR HEADS IN SHAME THE MANEGMENT OF WIMBLEDON.You dont deserve the regulars that go to your track as customers. You treat your owners like TRASH and its now paying you back. God help greyhound racing as I think a miracle is now needed.

I would be worried to. But I have said on many occasions that the Management of the GRA would in the end destroy this sport.

Wimbledon gave me one of the biggest highlights as a dog owner and the GRA put me through the worst six months of my life with lies after lies. As the old saying goes, he who laughs last laughs longest and the GRA aren't smiling now,

The GRA managemnet are desperate for a management buyout at as cheap a price as possible. Trouble is, the may not have a product to make money from in the coming months

This is the end of dog racing in London,the GRA or Risk capital have made their intensions clear they have run the track down since they bought Wembley PLC. Wimbledon has gone downhill no investment and CUTS CUTS CUTS. HANG YOUR HEADS IN SHAME THE MANEGMENT OF WIMBLEDON.You dont deserve the regulars that go to your track as customers. You treat your owners like TRASH and its now paying you back. God help greyhound racing as I think a miracle is now needed.

its all bull curley, they cant possibly run top class 460 races around what is the 3rd bend as the 1st bend, theres chaos in the sprints as it is ,might as well move the derby to pelaw grange and in no way
am I knocking pelaw ..they would probably do a better job than whats about to be done at wimbledon.

Case, thanks for raising that.
What are the main differences between the 1st bend and the third in your opinion? I know they reconfigured the 1st after criticism, do you think they may now reconfigure the third?

Are they going to close the executive boxes, the restaurant and the revamped diamond room. Will they be opening them up for the Derby or are they going to be gone for ever. It dont smell right to me, get your punting boots on now Nanny. I promise you the trainers will not be leaving with no money!!!!!

it dont make sense your right they already got a grandstand and they are going to spend money doing the other side up dont make sense it just dont make sense

Whats the GRA management got to do with it, even if they are clueless?
The track is owned by a venture capitalist, he payed 60 odd million for 6 or 7 tracks and he wants his money back, and some.
It is or was just a matter of time

this is an odd one; tracks usually close down the cheap side; looks bleak

believe it is owned by luke johnson
he would sell, if he could, for a profit

Can not sell because he cannot make a profit. SIMPLE . YET

Of course he would, but he cant. They appointed agents last year then gave up and nothing has got better since. They say it is cheaper to run the MtM stand than the grandstand and they refurbed the MtM stand in around 2002.
As I see it, all they are trying to do is run at as much of a profit, or as little losses, as they can till the market picks up and they can get rid.
Who buys it when they sell is anyone's guess.

As for dog racing turn the lights off.

wow so the starting traps and say winning line are going to be moved over to the existing back straight and therefore will be a new trip etc for all races, seems a crazy decision might as well just keep the current main stand open and spend as little as possible

on reading that ex hove trainers comments on english racing in the rp a few days ago, whoes moved over to ireland 7 years ago and doing really well now, how he must laugh as the numptie english

a real shame that the premier track has come to this and it does still have many good open comps, though the prize money is still very poor

one wonders if any sky deal will happen when things like this are occuring

why dosent it have a bags contract? is it because none was offered or because they dont want bags racing?

According to the Post, the track is going back to how it was originally designed with the existing back straight being the home straight like it used to be years ago.

As I understand it Dayjur; the transfered their BAGS fixture to another of their tracks because the overheads at the Don meant it wasn't sufficiently profitable. Now they are going to be using the MtM as its cheaper to keep open, BAGS may become viable again.

catford, i believe that is the official line from the track given at the time. in reality the reasons for losing bags were much different. it is the same reason that the stadium is losing money now, and that is the track bookmakers- most notably tony morris.

get new bookmakers there

couldnt agree more

bookmakers wouldnt want to go there same as they dont really want to go to any track at the moment,but here's an idea m.d.m why dont you apply to the gambling commision pay £600 get a licence pay the tracks around £150 a night rent pay a clerk £60 a night wages bet to 125% lay 1 dog per race no maximum bets and see if you can make it pay?

another nail in dog racings coffin

m.d.m im not having a go just trying to tell you how it is greyhound racing for lots of reasons is on its last legs i dont know what the answers are but i know its not just the bookmakers fault

worcester sauce 13 Nov 14:05

bookmakers wouldnt want to go there same as they dont really want to go to any track at the moment,but here's an idea m.d.m why dont you apply to the gambling commision pay £600 get a licence pay the tracks around £150 a night rent pay a clerk £60 a night wages bet to 125% lay 1 dog per race no maximum bets and see if you can make it pay?

They don't bet to 125% very often, they bet to 140%+ at times. Maybe they would lay more dogs if they hadn't driven away any punter with an opinion (not just winning ones i might add) by refusing to lay them any bets at all. With regard to the "no maximum bet" comment, i am not sure what to say. I personally have had bets as small as £50 knocked back at the track, and one of the bookmakers has told me I cannot bet with him. The same bookmaker has knocked back £20 bets to others that I know, simply because he doesn't like them. People are always quick to say what a hard life being a bookmaker is but the reason they do not take any money is because they do not want to take any money. They are there to pick up the £5 and £10 bets from six packers and have no interest in laying punters/owners.

so bagpuss why not do as i suggest take out a licence yourself bet to 125% regardless of what the others are betting too surely if your arguement is correct you would take all the money at the track and therefore make a very good living out of it,but remember % only work if you can lay all the dogs in a race and how often does that happen so % becom irrevalent

You obviously don't know how Mr Morris operates. Mr Morris would make it impossible for anybody else to stand down there. I agree that (at times) it may be difficult for the bookmakers, but they also get their share of good times (derby etc). They cost Wimbledon the BAGS contract, and now are driving out anybody who wants to have a bet. This has led to the stadium being empty and any real punters staying at home to bet on here. Owners are also put off, as some are now unable to bet their own dogs. Of course, the low prize money hasn't helped but this would be tolerated by some/most owners.

Also, laying one dog in a race as opposed to 3 or 4 makes no difference to long term profit/loss if your prices are correct. All bookmakers on all sports and all events only lay a few selections. High street firms will only lay the favourite on a premiership football match, but they don't constantly moan that they aren't laying the draw.

bagpuss i dont know the ins and outs of wimbldon and i dont know the bookmaker in question and i'm not trying to defend bookmakers in general just thought that if things were that bad you do have an option refusing to take a £50 bet though does seem to be p i s s poor

p1ss poor is correct. until something is done the track will continue to go downhill. I hope somebody who makes the decision realises this before it is too late.

I tried to post but got told it was a moderated forum. God knows what I said wrong. The original post may appear later but probably not.

I was trying to say that the current bookmakers pay for the empty pitches of the two that left a couple of years ago so that wimbledon don't bring anybody new in. People have applied to wimbledon but obviously they are not interested as they already get the money and don't want to upset the current bookmakers.