Now you are not reading carefully. I said they would need to bulldoze the road to the pen - ie to make room for a longer lead-up in the back straight.

The simultaneous need is to move the entire track to the North so that the 520 start can be returned to normal. At the moment boxes 1 and 2 are too close to the rail line and therefore encourage those dogs to move to the right - which is why winning boxes stats are skewed to the middle and outside.

No Sandro is right Bruce....You've totally missing his point or you wouldn't be talking about a bulldozer.

To keep up current levels of nominations we need to breed 3000 to 4000 pups per year current breeding (20 litters per month ) only gets you 2760 pups per year

THE WORST IS STILL TO COME

Jeff,

GA gets a mention only because its members (all states) voted in favour of restrictions on a dam's breeding frequency/age. The states just implemented the rules they already decided on.

GA writes the Oz rulebook - it has no power of its own.

If you want a change you will need to convince every state first.

Breeding numbers are still well below 2014/15 levels. Live baiting scares would have been the first reason. Dam restrictions another, but probably not huge (serious study is absent). It is also possible, even probable, that poor numbers are mostly due to a combination of poor industry image and economic factors (eg no money in it).

A sensible business would have left no stone unturned in an effort to find out exactly what the problem was and is. Sadly, greyhound bureaucracies don't work that way. All they have done is cross their fingers and reduce a few fees.

What they should be doing is assessing the outcome of their rule changes (especially re dams) to see what effect those changes have brought about. Usually, the authorities seldom bother to do that.

In fact, I don't recall ever seeing the rationale behind the dam restrictions in the first place. One argument is that it makes good sense if it eliminates some of the rubbish being bred. But that is to be proven.

The interesting thing is that Fernando Bale and Barcia Bale are
booked solid at big prices so there is no great problem at the top end.

20 litters a month gives you 2760 pups a year.

you must be having a lot of large litters these days in OZ .

i would have thought 1680 was nearer the true figure

it could be that the answer to the so called shortage of hounds is to change the grading system,

EXTERNAL LINK

Simon,

That article came from a GRV media release which was not in the headline area but parked away in a list I had not seen before and then republished by ARG.

As stated, the test was done at Lismore over a year ago but the results or conclusions were never published. That's not surprising - I watched all of them closely and found "nothing to see here". That is, I have seen plenty of interference in 3-dog or 4-dog races - it all depends on the circumstances.

You may use English 6-dog racing as an example - interference would appear to be lower there - but that involves an outside lure and box seeding by the track manager, both of which tend to spread the field out.

As at Lismore, GRV plans to use the test in Maiden races where most of the runners are still learning the caper. In particular you could expect early speed to be variable as they are still learning to jump. Some will also run all over the place as they are still working out where they want to go - if at all. They will also have had less experience in 6, 7 or 8 dog races anyway.

How much would you learn about cricket by watching the under 12s play? Would AFL change the bump rules based on what is happening in park football?

The proposed exercise is a complete waste of space for those reasons alone.

Anyway, how will they measure "safety", as GRV is trumpeting? Falls, bumps, injuries are all meaningless measures for this standard of racers - and not a lot better for experienced dogs. The related but less understood aspect is that those issues are also a function of the nature of the track - box positions, turns, cambers, distance and so on. One has to be separated from the other. It is a scientific challenge.

For a start, of the three test tracks Cranbourne has notoriously risky turns - possibly due to the cambers - especially around the 520m first turn, where some runners regularly veer off. Shepparton and Ballarat have smash and grab starts for 545m and both middle distance trips. All these seriously stress young bodies yet to mature.

Fortunately, there is an easier method - although it may be too late for this high priced committee to adopt it.

In the month of December to date there have been 128 races in Victoria with 6 or fewer runners - say around 400 over the desired 3 month period. Ask a GRV boffin to pull these out of the database and stick them in file so that every one can get around the table and watch them one after the other. I have no idea what they will be counting but it has a chance of providing more info than a string of maidens which hardly know what they are doing.

What GRV has also failed to mention is how it will be counting the potential loss of turnover in races with short fields.

Speaking of numbers, GRV has just told us that "breeding numbers have now returned to the levels required to sustain the racing program". The truth is that 2017/18 litters are now 31% lower than in 2014/15, which is why the above 5, 6 and 7 dog fields are commonplace, to say nothing about meetings with fewer races. Some program!

Here is another interesting comment - stewards on last night's R1 at Meadows:

"Tessa Allen checked off Racing Pulse on the first turn. Toy's Son and Racing Pulse collided on the first turn and again approaching the second turn severely checking both greyhounds. Tessa Allen clipped the heels of Racing Pulse on the home turn".

This was a 4-dog race yet stewards noted five different cases of interference.

Whether there are 2 or 20 runners there will always be some interference. It is the nature of greyhounds to seek to get to the lead. That's what they are bred and trained to do.

There are three ways to minimise interference and therefore injury. In descending order - (1) build carefully designed tracks with no bend starts, (2) ensure carefully educated and trained dogs and (3) employ brainy dogs.

Re: (3) employ brainy dogs.

In your next life, if you come back as a greyhound, we will be guaranteed of having at least one brainy dog to employ.

I keep meaning to make a note of good field dogs - there are quite a few - but my short term memory is not as good now. I also remember noting some of their progeny carrying on that trait but I forget their names.

That's the lesson for today - choose your parents wisely and exercise your brain daily.

Poke The Bear should be classed as one of your good field dogs.

Re: That's the lesson for today - choose your parents wisely and exercise your brain daily.

That should read "exercise your brain and bowel daily."

1680 would be about right

2 x 280m
2 x 720m (1-3)
5 x 520m

Maybe they should look at putting on 520m maidens on a Wednesday night with extra prizemoney to bolster fields

Sandro I beleive they are introducing 270 metre racing at the GARDENS FROM JULY 1.