I will miss Wentworth Park when it goes.
Just something about the place

Now they have a world class training complex and race track at Menangle !

At least they own it, even though not many people attend meetings.

What do people think about how some tracks are getting different and/or extra dates to race? In some ways, I think it's a good idea.
I can only guess as to what GRNSW is trying to do.

I was thinking of the proposed Orange Centre of Excellence, in which the Member for Orange, Phil Donato is going to talk about in parliament next week. I really believe they need at least a one turn track. From out there, you gotta travel a long way to race on a one turn track (yes, I know where they are). It would complement the region.

Will that ever change ?

The Coalition stacked the deck with Anti's that are on a mission to bring the NSW Greyhound Industry down !

Unless the deck is swept clean of those Anti's the industry has no hope !

A friend of mine was chatting with me the other day about where these people are, who BANNED the greyhound industry in NSW and backflipped after identifying that it could lose them Seats, one at the Orange By-Election and then others that followed.

Troy Grant went on to be a Board Member (I think) of Racing NSW with Peter Vlandys there as the Commissioner. Mr Grant then got a role in IRL with Peter Vlandys becoming the Commissioner. I think Mr Grant has a gig elsewhere, something to do with water compliance.

Mike Baird and Gladys received plum jobs with big corporations and still prospering.

Be careful what we wish for. Not one horse track has closed, yet greyhound tracks have closed. Our market in NSW has been suppressed and somewhat contracted without us even knowing it. I'll have a look at the Annual Report soon.

Meanwhile, I hear that Taree won't be ready to open and operate at the end of January. Some suggest it will be a couple of months to six months after January. We're all hoping to race more often at Wauchope during the period that Taree is closed.
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IMO the one-off $500,000 to the winner of the staying race at TG is not how you look after stayers (some say what stayers in NSW?).
We should be having 6 x $100,000 or 12 x $50,000 races across the regions if some tracks can cater for it. That's outside of WP major events. Build a day or night around it. Now, that is worth racing for. You get 6 or 12 chances to collect decent prize money.

100% agree with you Mark

NSW with 70% of racing under 440m and very little encouragement for 600m+ racing

Pretty soon 500m racing will be extinct here

Going by feature races, Are they not getting rewarded?

For example:

Both Group 1's

Melbourne Cup $650k

Bold Trease $105k

MDC $1m (not a Group Race)

Sydney Cup G2 $100k

GEE $250k

Association Cup $75k

Both Group 1's

We have 70% of races below 440m

20% of these should be cut back by reducing prizemoney and reallocating the prizemoney to 500m racing

That would be a good start

You can tinker with it like

13 p.a. x $15k races over 700m plus type races

13 p.a. x $15k races for 600m type races

13 p.a. x $15k races for 500m type races

Heats - $5k
Semis - $7k

FFA one time
4/5th grade Provincial grading the next, etc

In the regions

From a gambling perspective, punters will bet on 2 flies. The $ amount wagered on a 400m race to a 700m race is very similar from what I have been told. Much like gambling $ on races 9,10,11 and 12 have a similar amount of betting activity as the quaddie legs which normally make up the better quality fields

In a market where most governing bodies have to supply a certain number of meetings a week, having 400m runners going around twice a week helps meet that agreement.

Do you agree with the statement that 500m plus dogs are in decline in NSW?

Yes it replicates the down turn in breeding , owners and trainers ! It has nothing to do with prize money allocations even though I have always said the bottom end country / provincial is way over looked whilst the top end are deciding which property or car to buy each year !
If you want to see more dogs up in distance tell the graders to change the system from wins per each distance to a wins a wins no matter what distance ! It aint rocket science why a trainer stays down in distance to collect its wins in each grade ???

Everyones response is either silence , coz its true or a dumb arse comment like find faster dogs !

[Edited Admin]

Ps. You are correct about the bulk prize money situation , but you could go further with it and allocate it at different times of the year to each region so everyone or area has their turn at a carnival cash event once a year as apposed to 1 track taking the lot all year round ???

I'd really like to read your analysis or interpretation of it, over the next few weeks.

Hi Mark,

With welfare being important (even though PTs are no longer required), dog numbers for races being down slightly and I'm told that it's hard to get a trial with other dogs, I'd really like to see GRNSW trial four dog fields for maidens and if a Heat and Final, four dogs in the final. Perhaps limit the trial period to Country Meetings? Just a thought that crossed my mind.

I understand what you have written. One turn tracks into a two turn track. I don't know the statistics of injury, interference, etc.

They used to have Appin to Wenty Park ! Along time ago, my dog qualified for the final at Wenty Park and I asked the trainer if the dog had trialled there. He said yes. Mine drew Box 1 and kept on going straight at the first turn. Luckily, he never interfered with other dogs and once he gathered his footing and bearings again, he chased the field home.