To say there is nothing wrong with wenty and its facilities couldnt be further from the truth and is the silliest point of view Ive ever heard

Trialing at wenty is a disaster, main car park closed leaving a miniature car park only available so trailers are a no go pending where your trialing meaning many long walks around the whole circumference of track while trials are on , leading to your dogs being half cooked before their own trial

Race day has its problems as main car park is opened and now you empty your dogs with the public and their dogs chasing tennis balls and toys with their dogs at times running over to yours
Are we there to race or pre re home courses ?
Seriously its a debacle

Then you have kennels that are 10 mtr away from trackside that allows all dogs to listen to the lure going around up to 20 times pending race number

Kennel cages that slide and knock your water bucket over and saturate your matt

If this is the pinnacle of premier racing
Keep it !

The Poeple in charge of our sport need to make change years ago

Its disgraceful

Ps. Havent even started on the track racing pattern favours
First to the corner wins ....... 50% of the rest of the field colliding on first corner

Great stuff if you like squib racing and injured dogs

Blow it up

welfare for dogs is the main priority supposedly according to the government too so expose them for such neglect and get what is needed.

If the industry only knew how to capture `atmosphere' every week.

The facilities are there, track has improved. Give me a big One Turn Grass Track every day of the week.

What happens if your dogs doesn't handle WP? It's a $3500 difference every win. As Tony said, "75% of participants are in Regional NSW." Hello!

I can't talk about the kennels.

Parking has always been messy due to the multi-use and multi-purpose of the surrounding area (SS Council).

Historically, Wenty was always known as "the tricky track" - grass or loam. Good dogs performed there but often with difficulty. HP was preferred.

Over a decade ago both first turns were indented for a short space, allegedly to achieve cleaner running. This resulted in the infamous turn-before-the-turn challenge which did nothing more than confuse some dogs and cause others to be shoved off. It also biased the track even more in favour of the rails dog (if it could rail). At least two Eggs have been won because of that. (Similar poor fixes were installed at Launceston, Maitland and the old Cannington - all failing and causing additional bias. Bulli had similar treatment but from a different source).

Recently, some UTS-induced fiddling took place but we have no idea what that was because no-one was game to tell us. In any event, it produced no advantages.

Otherwise, there has been occasional playing around with the camber on the turns but to no long lasting effect. NCA-induced crazy box lids did not help either.

Add to that the inability to create a 600 - allegedly due to engineering restrictions - and you have a big mess. That why too many dogs run off and falls are common.

In theory, all this should be recoverable but, in practice it is hopeless. Shut it down.

But, you encouraged and supported the experts.

I think UTS has done a reasonable job with first turn and camber, but it is still a leaders track.

I wonder why Wauchope, a one turn grass track, strategically placed, missed out on GRNSW's support? Too close to Taree? No support from the local MP? Gosford, The Gardens and Maitland are extremely close to one another. As are Grafton, Casino and Lismore. We should keep them all.

If there were issues with the track, funding should've have been made available to fix any anomalies it may have had. There are one turn tracks at Maitland and Grafton. Wauchope would have been a great supplement to them. Taree and Wauchope can co-exist.

Indeed, nobody could because the subject has never been studied nor have cause and effect been investigated at any stage. It has all been guesswork.

My own knowledge is great so far as effects are concerned - ie from in depth analysis I know what causes problems but not precisely what to do to fix them. Amongst other things, it needs lots of experimentation to check out the options (which UTS did mention as well).

UTS came up with a strong preference for straight track racing on the ground that interference and injuries would be less. (They are strongly biased to safety measures). That's understandable but it does not address the overall challenge of how to best structure the circle/one-turn/straight track mix in the industry. UTS has also contributed in unknown ways to Wenty, Gosford and Grafton and perhaps others. Again, the details are unstated and GRNSW is no help at all in explaining what goes on.

Wenty is still poor.
Gosford ditto - exchanged a bend start 400m for a bend start 388m and the 520m first turn is still a problem.
Grafton is very good.
The short trips at Horsham and Shepparton are worse then before due to UTS lack of appreciation of the nature of greyhound running.
Traralgon may turn out well but a query remains about how the starts will be set up.
Tweed Heads will include one bend start (with UTS advice apparently).

What we have often failed to bring about is to translate new theory into useful practical solutions.

And note that Muswellbrook has a diabolical start for its 429m trip (Townsville is similar) but the GRNSW media release said nothing about fixing it or anything else in any detail.

Tracks are still a mixed bag.

We have standards set for surfaces but no book of rules for track layouts.

I have complained on many occasions on behalf of many trainers re various issue .KENNELING is one such issue, TO KEEP A GREYHOUND LOCKED UP IN RACING KENNELS FOR ANYTHING UP TO NEARLY 5 HOURS has got to be a welfare issue.especially if dog barks ,spills water and plays up ,dehydration becomes a problem.

grading a young 4th grade dog just out of 5th grade agaist top grade company in 1,2,3,4,grade races on all tracks over all distances is an absolute great way to fuck up a young dog,gets beaten by many lenghts loses onfidence and sometimes give up the chase,another welfare issue.apart from Owners and trainers getting frustrated ,they complain but no'one is listening ,There are many more issues that I have raised same answer we are looking into it.end of discussion,end of comunication.

Split kenneling is the answer to put a stop to 5 hour long kennelling for dogs and TRaINERS !
Take into travel time also and it can come up to 12 hour days for both concerned

End result , my dogs now piss and empty In the race kennel when finally let out
Theyve earnt it !!!!

This is a welfare issue on everyone that is massive and only met with sweep it it under the rug responses

Someone will die on the road due to 18hour plus shifts (Race and property management)forced upon trainers before it is changed

Horses have it ....... why cant we ???

Instead of focusing on cash prizes and everything is fine attitude in the sport
Fix what is essential on everyone

Grading is an abortion also , 5 grades available but only use two of them
Pending who you are
Discretion by the grader is a joke

None of this will be changed but and the flawed system will carry on !

The game is a joke where its on their property
But yet perfect on ours where fines and suspensions are handed out By gwic

Hypocrites to say the least

Normally I hate to talk a lot about grading because I am not familiar enough with the day to day difficulties. However ......

I was brought up in the days when Grade 1 - 2 - 3 etc were routine at Wenty and HP - Presidents Stake and the like. And they were full of top racers which everyone knew about. Those races and those dogs were big attractions in themselves.

Fast forward to today and we have piles of low class options - added to every year - as the system tries to cater for lesser dogs and rules which allow better dogs to keep doing the rounds of 5th Grades or lower. Vic even specifically calls for nominations for meetings which are officially selected "from the bottom up". Qld has both higher and lower class meetings at the same track. 6th and 7th grades are utilised everywhere, sometimes under the names of Tier 3 or C Class.

Outside of a tiny handful of big races, we are selling the industry on the basis of poor quality dogs - purely to reinforce the theme that we look after all our dogs for all their life. That's a major factor in the decline of field standards and, with it, the decline in investors' knowledge and ability - ie mugs in pubs.

That principle is fine on its own but it should not be leading the push. No other sport in the world would prosper if it were to campaign on park standard cricket or football, so to speak.

The horses have got the mixture right as they (a) are catering better for country class gallopers which can run at Randwick occasionally while (b) the main body of people are offered top races for $4m to $6m and up which get all the headlines.

In parallel, some change is needed in the pattern which allows lesser dogs to keep on winning races in the bottom grades. We need more movement up to higher grades if a dog is winning. Only then will you ever get back to Grades 1-2-3.

But bear in mind that I suspect the major reason for the long term downward trend is that trainers are forever calling on authorities to make life easier for those lesser dogs. So they react accordingly, forgetting their prime responsibility is the advancement of the code and the breed. The old objectives get lost in the translation. It's a question of balance.

For a person who has been criticising the industry for decades, you have failed to understand the grading system. Going down memory lane doesn't help you understand the current grading policy which is easy to find and little bit harder to understand. Give it a try and then comment because you constantly `bag' dogs that are handed to trainers who don't make it to FFA. Most probably don't. That's not the fault of trainer.

Weren't you a supporter of Paul Newson and his work as he worked closely with Baird and Grant to close down the industry?

You state UTS strongly favoured straight track racing, due to less injuries. Do you have any proof of this?

The TAB-Corporates-Punters bet far far more on circle racing! FACT. We are a MONEY MAKING ENTERPRISE, not a feel good gym session for greyhounds.

Rules for track surfaces? Can we control the weather? Rain, Hail, Temperature? No, they can only set acceptable standards with penetrometers, etc, just like the horses.

Newcastle Cup at The Gardens where the winner broke the record in its heat then won the final seven days later. I big no, no from a person who doesn't train. Great feature racing, not 5th Grade racing. Take your blinkers off.

We are on here suggesting constructive criticism for the better of our product and ourselves

Every complaint Ive mentioned is fixable and should be done and the game would prosper tenfold

Our sport is for everyone , not just the rich or apparently wiser like your self
Due to this fact , our sport isnt trending downward at all

My grievances are that the outside cosmetic look has been shifted , but the Poeple and its pets who make it all happen are being over looked in so many common sense avenues that need addressing ! It needs to be done by the Poeple who are rolling up their sleeves and getting things done , Not by Poeple to the likes of yourself

You arent needed here Bruce at all , no one likes writing negativity towards anyone here , but you dig your own hole too many times in backyards that Clearly arent yours anymore .

Nathan,

Might be good to read the exchanges on THE PHOENIX post. Generally speaking, I agreed with most of your comments.

Better to play the ball and not the man.

don't engage with him. problem solved.

Anti's should be barred from this place yet the "Prophet Of Doom" remains ?????