GRV had its biggest ever GAP Adoption Day on 1 May with a record 70 dogs finding new homes. This was a great effort by everyone involved, particularly GAP’s foster carers and other volunteers who did a wonderful job looking after the dogs and talking with their potential new owners. Then on 4 May, the Warrnambool Cup Rock ‘n’ Race night drew one of its largest audiences ever with around 1800 people coming along for great racing and live entertainment.
The last month has once again been a very busy and productive time for GRV. We successfully celebrated 20 years of GAP with A Dog’s Breakfast and received wide media coverage about the 20th anniversary. Both our recent GAP adoption days and Little Big Day Outs have enjoyed record numbers and generated good media stories.
As you can see from this issue of Greyhound Monthly Victoria there’s a lot happening right now in the sport across the state. This year’s Australian Cup at The Meadows drew one of the biggest crowds ever seen there, to watch Dyna Double One become just the third greyhound in world history to win $1 million in prize money. And in April the heats start for both the Warrnambool Classic, which introduces a new generation of racers to the sport, and the Warrnambool Cup.
GRV is continuing to build its internal capability and following a major review of GRV’s organisational arrangements, a new structure has been developed that will provide a better balance between GRV’s role in delivering a high quality racing program and its statutory responsibilities for integrity and animal welfare, which will now receive a much greater emphasis. For example, a nationwide search is now underway to identify outstanding candidates for the now vacant positions of General Manager, Integrity and General Manager, Animal Welfare. I will provide more details about GRV’s new structure in the next issue of Greyhound Monthly Victoria.
Welcome to what will be a very busy 2016 for Greyhound Racing Victoria (GRV) and our sport in general. Among the changes coming up will be a new and improved Informer with a new title, starting with the February issue. The changes will build on the hundreds of responses we have received from our survey of the Informer’s readership and I thank everyone who took the time to let us know what you think and the suggested improvements.