The GBGB is under mounting pressure to act swiftly and decisively following disturbing scenes at Crayford yesterday where Burrow Fantastic, owned and trained by Miss K Daly, was seen on TV throwing up during the parade ahead of the 7.37 race at Crayford.
In the footage, it appears to be clear that both the GBGB licenced kennel hand and the GBGB licenced race starter were aware of the condition of the dog before it was placed in the traps.
In an announcement made earlier this morning, a spokesperson for GBGB has said:
“We are aware of race footage from Crayford Stadium yesterday which appears to show a greyhound becoming unwell during a parade before a race. Clearly, this greyhound should not have continued on to race under these circumstances and should have been withdrawn. We have launched an investigation into the incident.
“As soon as it was brought to our attention, our GBGB Stipendiary Steward immediately began enquiries and the greyhound in question was once again assessed by a Veterinary Surgeon, who has confirmed it is fit and well. However, the Vet will continue with any other precautionary tests deemed appropriate, before the greyhound proceeds with any further racing or trialling, as part of our investigation.
“The health and wellbeing of all our greyhounds is paramount and each GBGB racing greyhound is checked by a Veterinary Surgeon before, during and after any race or trial. No greyhound should ever race unless it is completely fit and healthy and we will be looking into the circumstances surrounding this incident to ensure it will not be repeated.”
Today’s announcement appears to be falling on deaf ears though, with owners, trainers and media commentators at the very top of UK racing saying that yesterday’s incident at Crayford is symptomatic of the state of greyhound racing in the UK today.
Greyhound Weekly columnist, George Sell has called for the GBGB to “have some sort of benchmark test to earn a kennel hand licence. Standards are so low now. Terry Dartnall once told me that when he was racing at White City, if you were parading and your bowler hat wasn’t on straight, you’d get a fierce bollocking! A bit over the top [perhaps] but the point is the rules were very strict and enforced to the letter. Nowadays it seems like anything goes.”
Paul Illingworth, Head of Stadia (Commercial) at Entain said in a statement “The reasons why the correct procedure was not followed are being investigated internally and we will take the necessary steps to ensure that the correct procedures are followed from now on. We will also be cooperating fully with the GBGB investigation.”
It appears today that the decline in standards and welfare has gone far enough. Greyhound Weekly has been made aware of a renewed threat of strike action by trainers in response to a perceived drop in standards at UK tracks and trainer, Jack Levers has announced today that he has made the decision to leave the sport.
“I just can’t carry on providing for an industry that seems to get worse everyday. All the sport is interested in is having 6 dogs in a race and no care for the dogs at all. We have no integrity and a governing body that needs reform.”
