The Sunday Afternoon ‘Finish On'

AT Bathurst in August, the Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission announced it was in the final stages of negotiations with a Korean developer to introduce biometrics technology which will do away with ear branding for greyhounds.

In the same way snout recognition technology has been successful with cattle, GWIC has said the shift will take place from July 1 in NSW.

"The Korean Government has allocated many millions of dollars into the seed funding of cutting-edge technology enterprises and the snout fingerprint breakthrough has many benefits for greyhound racing," GWIC Chief Executive Steve Griffin said late last year.

"There will be no need to have ear branding as a supplementary form of verification and identification for greyhounds.

"Microchipping will remain as the primary identifier and, with the scanning capabilities of phones, people will be able to scan a dog's nose and upload that image for an annual check in, be identified at a vet or lodge annual updates (of location) with GWIC via eTrac."

GWIC will be the first to introduce the new processes and should it be as successful as the trials conducted, every state in the country may well follow.

There are inherent costs, however, and the cross jurisdictional uptake will be necessary to complete the two-stage verification and identification for racing.

There will be an annual cost of $20 per greyhound per annum which is borne by the owner while the annual fee has no sunset clause for broodbitches or stud dogs.

And what is the oversight of NSW bred pups which are sold interstate?

Greyhounds which fall outside regulatory perspective (rehomed) will have no on-going fees attached and, without the need for ear-branding, let's hope litter registration costs are adjusted downward.

The snout verification will, however, allow owners/breeders/trainers to check in their own greyhounds to GWIC (via a smartphone app) rather than a six-month or annual check in at another track or facility.

The annual fee in place for NSW will contract as other states take up the new technology.

The complication with single-state use – in the short term – will be that any greyhound from NSW which travels interstate will not have a supplementary check available on race day.

Should a microchip fail to be read, under the Greyhounds Australasia rules, a greyhound racing in a jurisdiction without secondary verification of identity will be scratched.

If – or when – all states take up the snout recognition technology, the problem will be mute but a failed microchip should be the last reason why a dog should be scratched from any race.

So why note an individual's markings at 12 to 14 weeks of age if the process has no regulatory relevance?

PAINTING

Even before soil was turned the Nowra track in mid-October, the club had promises broken re-funding and the rail to be installed at the popular track had not been tested elsewhere.

Funding for the project was initially to be assisted by the club to the extent of $320,000 but GRNSW later backed away from their substantial overhaul costs-wise and the Nowra Club was advised that GRNSW would only pay for the replacement of the running rail and installation of a SafeChase lure.

On completion, the spend was said to be ~$700,000 and, to this day, the SafeChase lure had never been a kind bedfellow for the new rail system.

Fabrication of the rail had impacted the proper working of the tried-and-true SafeChase system and rectifications have allowed no meetings to be compromised but a significant issue remains and, for the sake of animal welfare, the fix is not far away.

Saturday night's Puppy Classic is evidence enough that Nowra's unpainted, galvanised rail is not able to be ‘seen' by dogs and the problem has been batted back by GRNSW over many months.

Many trainers have contacted this writer regarding dogs hitting the running rail (without being contacted and forced to the inside) at Nowra.

While back in the field and with no rival nearby, Queen Linda (box 4) did this on Saturday night in the Puppy Classic Final.

Hurricane Reign and Tom Rees have won the @Ladbrokescomau Nowra Puppy Classic Final tonight in a PB time of 29.47!#thedogs #greyhoundracing #greyhounds pic.twitter.com/en4xLKbeZT

— The Dogs (@Thedogs_com_au) April 27, 2024

In coming weeks, and between race meetings, Nowra will get the rail painted yellow (dogs see yellow and blue best) with the galvanized rail needing to be ‘etched' in order for the paint to adhere to the surface.

Unfortunately, the issue was identified not long after the October install but six months of stonewalling followed.

This final piece of the puzzle at Nowra is about to be put in place yet it should have not taken this long.

MEANWHILE, AT TAREE

While Nowra has had its share of running rail collisions, just how would Queen Linda have fared had she collided so heavily with the proposed rail to be utilised at Taree?

Here's what the prototype lure (installed at the Richmond slipping track) looks like and the prospect of a dog hitting this type of structure (with high and low support framework) is too frightening to even contemplate.

Taree is many months behind schedule and there appears to be no prospect of a return as the rail is yet to be installed, sand is yet to be laid and the only testing on the proposed rail has only been done in a straight line at Richmond – nothing around a turn.

Thereafter, GWIC must provide final approval of the rail and lure system and it's said that the ‘400m' boxes have been positioned to not meet GRNSW's own Minimum Track Standard policy.

One local who is aghast at the positioning of the ‘400m' boxes said: "The dogs in boxes one and two at the 400m start will need to move to the right after the jump to avoid hitting the running rail … it's just an outrage."

Taree was supposed to race on the new track on January 26 then it was said to re-open in the first week of March but there is no end in sight.

On the GRNSW calendar, a Taree meeting is scheduled for May 15 with nominations closing on May 13 but that's not even remotely possible.

Once the project is complete, many trial sessions will be needed for GWIC to agree that it's safe for racing and the end is not yet in sight.

For now, Mid North Coast trainers must travel to The Gardens, Maitland, Grafton or Muswellbrook to race with the closest track to Taree (The Gardens) is a 2-1/2 hours trip.

Further adding to the complicated racing opportunities is that all race tracks are sand/loam and the MNC trial tracks are all grass.

Wauchope, which had $90,000 spent on a new rail last year, has conducted many TAB meetings so why not help the locals out and reinstate that circuit in the short term with TAB full coverage?

MNC trainers are doing it tough and they believe the opportunity to race is not being fairly handled.

REPLY

On Tuesday, Minister for Racing David Harris answered the sixth and final question on notice put to him by Orange MP Phil Donato earlier last month.

Question Six was: Regarding the awarding of contracts to the firm Heavy Industry Solutions in Lithgow, Nowra and Taree:

(a) What was the winning tender amount for each site and how did they compare (in financial outgoings) to unsuccessful tenders?

The Minister's answer did not shed any light on the competitiveness of the quotes received by GRNSW – a notion of much discussion for some time – yet the kicker is at the end:

"The awarding of contracts for the Lithgow, Nowra and Taree projects is a matter for Greyhound Racing NSW. No funding from the Greyhound Capital Grants Program has been allocated to these projects."

We know Nowra was forced into contributing a lot of money to its own upgrade and Lithgow had not yet started but how was the Taree project ever commenced without GRNSW attaining any funds from the Greyhound Capital Grants Program?

That's one for the GRNSW Board to dissect.

BUZZING

A large crowd was on hand for heats of the Ladbrokes 715 at The Gardens on Friday with the time standard set by Valpolicella at 41.51 – just .01 to the good of outstanding Tasmanian Raider's Guide.

The interstate-based stayers will dominate wagering for the $500,000 to-the-winner decider yet connections will now be better ‘armed' for a second trip to the Birmingham Gardens track.

The notorious "Hexham Grey ” mozzies were out in vast numbers on Friday with one visitor suggesting they were "nearly as big as a canary" while a local suggested she'd not seen so many in a decade.

Greyhound Products Direct offers a wide array of supplements on race day yet Trent Freeman would have surely sold every can of Mortein (or the like) if he'd been canny enough to stock it.

ADIOS

With soil turned at the state of the art The Q project in Yamanto and on track for handover later this year, Racing Queensland's Executive General Manager Adam Wallish, this week, decided it was time to retire.

The Victorian has had many hats in greyhound racing, first working at Greyhound Racing Victoria in 1989 and time to reflect has some.

"Last year my wife and I did a lot of travelling and we agreed we'd like to spend more time with our girls who live in Melbourne and see more of the world," Wallish said.

"A close friend passed away suddenly in recent weeks and she was ‘our' age … It was way too soon. That makes you reflect entirely.

"We've got a few things planned and we will enjoy time in Melbourne and up here in Brisbane.

Wallish finishes at RQ in mid-July and his departure adds another layer to the changes afoot at the Deagon head office.

A replacement for Greyhound Racing Manager Brenton Scott is likely to be announced this week and the recruitment team will then head back to the drawing board for a new EGM.