Greyhound Racing Victoria held the first of three regional Stakeholder Engagement Workshops on Wednesday, 6 October, at Shepparton to explore thoughts and views on what can be done to ensure all greyhounds have a successful racing career and are re-homed. More than 40 people gathered for workshop following the success of previous workshops. The panel…
The last in the series of nine Stakeholder Engagement Workshops in metropolitan Melbourne was held at Sandown Park on Saturday 3 September with the GRV CEO Alan Clayton telling those present that the future of the industry is “in their hands”.
With the topic being on the critical subject of re-homing greyhounds, more than 50 people turned out to discuss the issue and to work towards the goal of providing full re-homing options for every racing greyhound.
The biggest highlight of August was undoubtedly the Victorian Greyhound Awards at Sandown Park where many of Victoria’s greyhound racing community came together to celebrate some great achievements over the past 18 months. Fernando Bale was quite rightly judged greyhound of the year and I congratulate all the nominees and winners on the night. Both the Premier, The Hon Daniel Andrews, and the Minister for Racing, The Hon Martin Pakula, also provided strong messages of support on the night for the industry and for the reforms now underway. The Victorian Greyhound Awards was a great showcase of the commitment, passion and hard work of the good people who have driven the sport’s achievements and that will underpin the journey of reform we need to take to secure its long term future.
The phrase “Social License” has been much discussed lately following the NSW Government decision to close greyhound racing in that State. For GRV, it means one thing – if it’s not good for the dogs, it’s not on for the code. Our industry will, and must always, put the welfare of the dogs first, in accord with the expectation of the community. Greyhound racing in Australia has a long and rich heritage, both as a sport and as an important part of many local and regional communities. However, community expectations have changed over the past century and the code must change too if it wants a sustainable future.
This workshop was held at the Geelong Greyhound Racing Club on Saturday 23 July, on another cold day – perfect for sitting in the warmth of the club to discuss issues around what participants think of the racing program and how it’s structured, and the grading system and what improvements could be made. GRV’s CEO,…
It has again been another very busy month for Greyhound Racing Victoria (GRV). Seven of GRV’s eleven stakeholder engagement workshops (covering nine topics) have now been held, generating comprehensive discussion and new thinking about a range of issues, and this is covered in more detail in this edition of Greyhound Monthly Victoria. One workshop topic, breeding and breeding controls, looked at how we can make sure that enough greyhounds will reach the tracks ready to race for the sport’s long term future, while also ensuring that as many retired greyhounds as possible will have the best rehoming opportunities. On this subject, GRV has also been studying a recent downward trend in litter numbers and the implications this has for future breeding controls.