Some turbulence has hit both the greyhound and airline industries at once ,ironically they’ve also become intertwined , more on that later .
Today I’ve jumped on a soapbox to speak about current situation in Australia and break down the states give them a rating as I watch them progress (again it’s thru my eyes) so subscribe to my Houndbound life costs nothing read about the great game and agree or disagree everybody welcome!
Nothing last forever and things change, two phrases I use often.
Greyhound racing has lasted 100 years that’s pretty good so in a time of cancel culture you would expect the antis to be better armed, I’ll come back to Australia 🇦🇺 soon .
Currently in New Zealand there are huge decisions being made, the future uncertain and will be decided in next few months by one person according to reports.
Same old from me ,welfare , safety, government support, transparency, measured breeding, constant reviews for progress are paramount to survive, besides the great postman pat I watch NZ racing from afar , so can’t speak to much ,but with the swipe of a pen it can all be gone !, but I do know this story.
The silver collar is a group 1 event in New Zealand the most gruelling staying event in Australasia 779 metres the Duke of Edinburgh prince Phillip husband of queen Elizabeth II is the creator.
Prince Phillip won the English derby in 1968 and on he’s tour to NZ a year after the Auckland GRC presented him with a gift greyhound knowing of he’s fondness, he accepted on one condition the greyhound race in NZ .
Prince Phillip met the greyhound gave her a pat and the name Royal commission while on he’s duties, Auckland GRC asked if they could hold a race annually in honour of the tour , the prince loved the idea and said leave the the trophy to me , as soon as he returned to London he sourced he’s best jewellers , they crafted an amazing dog collar in solid silver the race was born the Duke of Edinburgh silver collar !
Royal commission turned out to be a stayer she could stay all day , in the race she ran 2nd but in 1971 she went one better and won for the Prince , when informed of the achievement he replied with one of he’s famous quips “ congratulations, give the dog a bone “ in 1973 she ran 3rd , Royal commission retired with 33 wins .
Let’s create greatness anti’s ,fix problems that’s what we do as humans, good luck our friends in NZ . Swipe of a pen 🖊️ surely not !!
As we speak the English 🏴 derby is hotting up ,down to the last 48 or so the final is on June 29 at the picturesque Towcester racecourse.
Hearing it’s been a great derby so far I love the format good luck to everyone involved stay positive promote the good bring in the youth and create jobs .
Easy for me to say ,I hear ya , especially when we’ve just had an Auction with 130 pup lots going under the hammer turning over 1.27 million dollars in NSW , but we were gone in 2016 that story for another day will go under the microscope.
Back home to Australia we race all around the country, lead the world in greyhound racing , Broken hill, Darwin have sky coverage now .
Covid seen a surge in betting turnover, it created some beneficial changes , implementations, rose coloured glasses were on for a while , but after Covid plus add the new phrase for recession “cost of living pressures” let’s just go back to calling it a recession much easier, this is a classic case of cancel culture we canceled the word recession ,I got news for you politicians we not scared of words anymore that’s the least of our problems, I am on the soapbox remember it is soapbox day don’t worry there won’t be many !!
Tightening of the belt had to happen some Prize money reductions in some races , races scrapped, and unfortunately some country tracks closed the legendary Coonamble track will close shortly, while sad they fall into category of things change , nothing lasts forever!
The Million Dollar Chase will remain the same it has become a phenomenon , I’m a traditionalist but cannot believe what I’ve witnessed with that creation the best I’ve seen in 40 plus years, we will tell a great MDC story in a later chapter and re live a special night .
Rating time , assessment of NSW we were cruising and possibly no.1 but our new CEO who had big shoes to fill encountered that turbulence I was talking about , personally I think he’s going ok , but he’s transparency has been questioned by a powerful radio personality in recent times an on air grilling takes place and the in fighting begins not good .
Many projects are up in the air, the lease for Wentworth park runs out in 2027 some clarity on these issues is needed but at present i support the CEO , communication and some initiatives have been refreshing.
Dream big we can build something unique to the world in the harbour city , Hi rise ,Restaurants best boutiques , a folding bridge style walkway over the track and then on race night the greyhounds put a show on Happy Valley Style, let’s create some spark back into our city ,it’s lost its soul !
The Anti’s have people in high places it’s a battle to even get a pitch heard they want hi rise shoeboxes 2 million a pop as many as they can squeeze in for foreign investors to line the pockets of crook politicians, stick a Chinese garden with some koi carp swings and a see-saw ,fountain for toddlers to play in … come on man give me a spell .
Air turbulence again NSW have sent 700 race dogs to America 🇺🇸 via qantas for a life with new families, the breed are rare over there now but demand is high , we sent our little girl who chose not to race to California and I can say the process from this end was professional.
The project is a success from grnsw but the anti’s are trying to persuade qantas it’s not safe for the dogs , they’ll stop at nothing ,they couldn’t care less about dogs to try and thwart this project ,says it all they’ll do anything even break the law to appease their mindset.
The northern Rivers in NSW is strong , while the South coast needs some attention.
Political opinions in the greyhound industry is very complex full of barbs , it’s impossible to keep all participants happy , but the infighting must stop , the negativity on some platforms gets a little tiresome, but is necessary at times , so let’s promote the good , after slipping NSW 8/10 .
Tasmania : solid catering for all dogs , Hobart 1000 still strong oldest group 1 in country, I have a friend down there loving life with collar n lead prize-money good, it’s cold 🥶 8/10
Queensland : going strong everyone likes to travel there for big carnivals , currently having big winter festival , prize money great cater for older dogs , important election awaits , some huge changes with tracks on the horizon with 40 million dollar complex to replace Ipswich and Albion park , Ipswich long overdue, new track progress gone a little quiet but for Queensland this transition is huge at present 8.5/10 going well !
Melbourne: Melbourne always been good and they know it , get a little protective of their stars when the blues knock them off , they like to keep silverware in house , the only dog that could beat Hooked on Scotch in Shootout, was Pindari Express and they dodged him on purpose, they were gobsmacked with MDC couldn’t talk about it for first two years , but I love the Melbourne dogs from day 1 and the people , in the late 80’s or early 90’s we were racing for 3000$ on a Monday night they would come up the highway take the cash and drive back home , brereton is one that springs to mind I was always on the Mexicans, so keep going strong keep moving love the GRV 8/10
Western Australia ::love what they doing in the west ,investing money the races are strong competitive , new innovations , big following, track upgrades , lots of media support just celebrated 50 years in style good trainers, judges , callers game is flying 9/10
South Australia: unfortunately at tail end presently but it can change. Nationals this year I believe, the Angle park upgrade superb 1st class , let’s promote more ,not sure government on board , small fields not the end of world 3 and 4 not good but 6 dog fields are trending around country at first i didn’t like them but they’ve grown on me .
Ernie bung Arrow, Wolf black , Ginger just popped into my head , Hilton Donaldson call “South road Sid is the fastest dog I’ve ever seen” as they approached the winning post with a lap to go ,classic ! Brett Lee 28.88 :: Hang in there 6/10
In summary as I’m getting a bit of vertigo up on this soapbox for 2 hours I finish with how about you young antis and cancel culture gang concentrate on commonsense.
Cancel not working just studying for 15-20 years …. Cancel going out of your way to hurt people in mass regarding a subject you know nothing about , believe me that hasn’t ended well for a lot of high profile people in this state no names mentioned but karma has ruined them .
Concentrate on stopping wars and hatred around the world , half of these war torn countries could do with a greyhound track they’d love it !
Feed the homeless! Try that .
Finally these greyhounds you say are in cages 24/7 is rubbish they are canine Olympians , eat better then most humans conditioned to perfection, doted on by their trainers , swim in dams rivers pools , free gallop in paddocks eat stews veggies steak I see it all the time , the whole family falls in love with the dog and in some cases the whole town , they change peoples lives ,after the races they have an ice cream at the track or stop at MacDonalds for a burger 🍔 and soft serve 🍦 it’s a post race ritual with everyone ,every dog is tracked for life you get a visit from authority every year to register your greyhound’s well being We Are ON Track !!
Domestic cats and dogs what a mess ,vets who play on heart strings for incredible overcharge and false diagnosis sort your issues out ,we going ok !
Geez I’m glad that Soapbox session over , hope you enjoyed Mick the Miller last post it was more fun 🤩
Until next time Hounfrenz take it easy 💜
My Houndbound life 