GBGB under fire

THE GBGB gets slated for many things, which goes with the territory for any governing body. Some brickbats are deserved, as no regulatory outfit gets everything right all the time, while some are not.

One thing the board has definitely got right is this week’s introduction of the Greyhound Retirement Scheme (GRS).

Starting in September, every greyhound registered will require an initial payment from its owner of £200, which will be matched by the GBGB on retirement. That will see a bond of £400 passed to homing kennels working with GBGB to help the process.

The only criticism I have of the scheme is that it should have happened far sooner.

Anecdotal evidence is that previous GBGB management and promoters thought it might dissuade owners from buying a dog, but that was and remains nonsense.

Although there is a pool of greyhounds that basically cost less than a 1990 Ford Fiesta, purchase prices often push four figures and can run into the thousands and even tens of thousands, so shelling out a couple of hundred quid extra should never have been seen as an issue.

What was probably more pertinent was that in many kennels a large number of dogs are owned by the trainer, and that would have been a most unwelcome extra bill.

Indeed, that is probably more the case than ever, but in this instance the GBGB have grasped the nettle and said ‘deal with it’. With the welfare climate we’re in nowadays it was really the only sensible move.

Putting down healthy animals to save money was never acceptable, and hopefully the benefits of the bond will become clear going forward as more and more ex-racers are homed.

One thing where the GBGB has not been so sure-footed, however, is race planning and sponsorship, albeit it is one of those subjects where it is impossible to please all the people all of the time, and self-interest trumps everything.

Last night was the Colossus Bets Silver Salver final at Central Park, which was notable for carrying a £10,000 bonus for any dog that went through it unbeaten.

I spoke to Colossus Bets boss Bernard Marantelli last week about the thinking behind the incentive, which was basically that he loves greyhound racing as he grew up with it and thinks it has lots scope to do better than it does. And the publicity doesn’t hurt.

In our chat, though, one issue that came up was that he extremely peeved at the GBGB for refusing to find room in the Calendar for a mooted £200,000 competition his firm had wanted to sponsor, and I have to say the logic of saying no to the deal was lost on me.

It seems politics were at play on both sides, and you can debate the rights and wrongs of trying to stage such a competition. Putting it into an already packed open-race calendar was perhaps a case of driving a coach and horses through the needs and wishes of tracks and their sponsors, but does greyhound racing have so much money, or have sponsors crawling out of the woodwork, that it could not have flexed somewhat?

There is another potentially awkward scenario coming down the tracks for the GBGB with the launch last week of the National Greyhound Supporters Club.

The man behind the idea, Dave Mitchell, who is also behind the successful Blue Tick Racing syndicate and seems to have his wits about him, is proposing a group encompassing all greyhound stakeholders.

Whether he is on to something remains to be seen, as other well-meaning organisations have come and gone in the past, but it does look as though the GBGB doesn’t fancy it much.

An official response was icy to say the least, with a spokesman noting that “having a voice also means taking responsibility for your words and, ultimately, while shouting from the sidelines is very easy, bringing pragmatic, inclusive and deliverable solutions to the table is much harder”.

Very true, but it does often seem the GBGB is more focused on what is best for promoters’ businesses rather than considering what is best for owners, trainers and breeders.