The SIS employee raised the issues of doping, irregular betting and the availability of private trials at which owners were given access to racetracks to run dogs without the result being made public or put on the race card. This allowed owners and trainers to enter dogs into races without their recent form being available to bookmakers or punters. This is not the case in England, where all official trials on racetracks are recorded on the race card when the dog is entered into a race.

Funny that this equates to the same differences between states here, where NSW requires a Performance Trial prior to TAB racing but Victoria does not.

An example popped up on Sunday at Sandown where a dog was sent out in a Maiden at $1.40 (and was easily beaten) even though it had no prior racing or trialling form at all. No doubt it had been doing something good in private but who was to know that?

Somebody must have plonked on it, and the mugs followed the tip, as the race attracted over $7k on the NSW and Vic win totes, and no doubt a lot more with the corporates.

Thats a loser for GRV and the sport.

In passing, it is common to see lots of odds-on pops in these low grade events in Melbourne. The majority do not win. And, in most cases, the losers are those with risky jumping ability.

Thanks for that - I could not possibly analyse Irish or English racing in any detail and do not try. I plucked out a matter which is relevant here.

The underlying point is that the more information you provide to customers the more they will buy. Even better if that information and the eventual race have a high degree of integrity.

As a matter of interest, I would have to say that drug control is fairly solid here - notwithstanding that someone is always trying to beat the system. All winners are swabbed and convictions are a very small proportion of the total - even smaller if you discount nonsense like cobalt.

Meantime, we will continue to enjoy your footballers who have added much interest to the local game.