GREYHOUNDS: Cash injection boosts owners (From Oxford Mail)
Get involved: send your photos, videos, news & views by texting OXFORD NEWS to 80360 or email us
GREYHOUNDS: Cash injection boosts owners
9:30am Saturday 8th October 2011 in Sport By John Gaisford
Oxford owners and trainers are in for a massive bonus following a big injection of prize money by the Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
The GBGB initiative in awarding tracks a fund of around £30,000 over the next 12 months will be great news for Oxford Stadium.
Some owners can only dream of landing a graded race for £1,000.
But that is what’s up for grabs as racing manager Gary Baiden plans to stage two £1,000 graded sweepstakes a month over the next year.
They will cover around 26 races in which trainers will receive a £100 bonus, and all losing finalists will also get £100.
And that’s not all, the Board have also given an early Christmas bonus for the owners by donating another £5,000 in added prize money for December.
The 50 races will run between December 1 until the turn of the year.
While we are on the cash theme, bookmakers RD Racing are to sponsor a graded event in the spring worth £500 to the winner.
Another innovation from the GBGB is a 40-foot limousine topped with a giant 20-foot long greyhound promoting the spot and is touring tracks .
It is due to visit Oxford on Saturday November 26.
The sign that a few more owners are joining the sport comes from trainer Michael Peterson.
He welcomes back an owner lost to the sport for 18 years who has now purchased five top class dogs from Ireland for the Peterson kennels.
The racing office are looking for a steward to officiate in the stewards box and on Saturday evenings. Those interested in applying should ring 01865 778222.
Chris Stringer kept up his good run by taking his winning streak to 13 winners in eight days, while Angie Kibble has one hand on the champion trainers title after a hat-trick on Saturday.
Former Pall Mall winner Ballymac Ace and finalist last year, took his prize-money tally to £30,000 when landing the Yarmouth Derby.
Comments(2)
falco
says...
5:46pm Sat 8 Oct 11
How much money will go towards re-homing when the greyhounds become too slow, too injured to race anymore? But trainers can have dogs killed by the GBGB Rule 18 which allows dogs to be PTS if: no home or placement can be found. or, if a trainer doesn't wish to spend money with a vet on treatment for the dog.
This industry cannot exist without the sacrifice of thousands of greyhound lives annually. With approximately 25,000 young greyhounds coming here from Ireland and trainers wanting kennels spaces, where do the older or too injured to race dogs go. With a severe shortage of Greyhound Rescue kennel spaces, trainers unwilling to pay anything to Rescues to take their greyhounds-what happens to these thousands of dogs?
The tracks are lethal for these dogs. Fast straights leading into tight bends ensures that the first bend causes the most injuries, the 2nd a little less.
Please don't attend dog racing or bet on it either.
It is a cruel industry because greyhounds die purely to entertain man and this cannot be acceptable to anyone with a heart or any morals.
click2find
PrivateInformation says...
10:14am Sat 8 Oct 11