THE GOBATA annual general meeting on Sunday unanimously endorsed Ricky Holloway's candidature for the Chair of the Greyhound Trainers' Association.
GOBATA chairman, Martin White, said the AGM was a constructive meeting "and we were delighted to give Ricky our full support."
He added: "This election is a rare opportunity to send a clear message to the regulator that the cup
of endurance has now filled to overflowing.
"The rank and file professional trainers must take back control of the GTA and Ricky must have their
full support."
The meeting also called on all owners to lobby their trainers to vote for Holloway.
HAS any trainer out there experienced any problems with the recently-introduced annual veterinary kennel inspections? If so, get in touch while the same applies to the Point Of Sampling rule, whereby new greyhounds for GBGB registration must provide a urine sample.
GBGB’S new welfare boss knows how trainers feel about the rule...
HOW much longer will the GBGB continue to ignore the requests of practitioners to address the ever-topical issue of pre-race kennelling times?
Despite protestations from trainers for goodness knows how many years the ruling body tell us that they are satisfied with the antiquated rule as it stands and refuse to budge.
GOBATA have had their say too, having written to the GBGB on the matter on several occasions proposing a revision to the rule and backing up that proposal with a sound, workable version.
 The Dunham centre schooling track, and what a gallop! ‘A real buzz about the place for British-breds meeting’
DAVE and Jane Houfton, who run the superb Dunham Centre schooling kennels just outside Newick, said Saturday’s British-bred Derby night at Newcastle was ‘the best we have enjoyed more than any night at a greyhound track for years.’
“Everyone at Newcastle was absolutely brilliant, there were real doggy people there, the 6-Packers as well, and I’d like to say a special thanks to the groundstaff who did a monumental job on the track after the deluge that came down on Tyneside on Saturday afternoon and forced the BAGS card there a few hours earlier to be abandoned!” said Dave.
The Houftons sponsored the two big races on the night, The Dunham Greyhound Centre British-bred Derby (for all-aged) and the same title for a competition for puppies (see adjacent story).
IT’S so good to see David Pruhs back on the open race road again and picking up where he left off after that sickening injury to probably the best dog he has ever had, Rotar Wing, at Sunderland last month.
Rotar Wing broke his back at the Tyne & Wear track and Pruhs, a member of GOBATA’s Racing Committee, was inconsolable for a long time afterwards and, truth be told, probably still is.
For, given any other year and no Jimmy Lollie, Rotar Wing would have won the sprint dog of the Year oscar hands down in 2010 for, in the two years he was with Pruhs, he won scores of opens, most of them in the cut and thrust business of two-bend sprinting.
GOBATA is encouraged by the response for investment in our Premier League project with chairman Martin White and Chris Page each reporting a positive feedback from investors.
"We are indeed encouraged, the Premier League is a huge undertaking and it is most satisfying to see so many greyhound supporters expressing an interest and wishing the competition well," said Martin.
The chairman was accompanied on Monday by Chris on a visit to the GBGB headquarters in London for a formal meeting to discuss the Premier League and met with Senior Stipendiary Steward, Paul Illingworth, and Amanda Duplock of the GBGB Calendar Department.
"Mr Illingworth was satisfied that our proposals were permissible in relation to the GBGB Rules of Racing," Martin added.
GOBATA has received various questions about the Premier League raised by members of the public. Below is our response to one which was posted on our website yesterday and encapsulates some of the concerns circulating. We believe this is an important initiative and it is proper to address all questions raised.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Question:
“With this latest premier league initiative, where on earth is a plan for the good of greyhound racing in general? A premier league inspires the great but the majority are lower league where is the plan for them? They represent 80% of your membership so what are you doing for them? Please do not say that the GBGB will not speak to us.
We need a greater debate and plan of action can we get one arranged?
A reply would be great.”
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reply from Martin White (Chairman):
The mission statement of GOBATA is as follows:
To give an effective voice to all greyhound practitioners, owners, breeders, trainers, and ancillary staff with the aim of assisting the GBGB to:
(A) Develop a commercial strategy for the greyhound industry that will halt its
continuing decline and be capable of sustaining the long term success of the sport
(B) Formulate policy on welfare and common issue interest
Point 1: With this latest premier league initiative, where on earth is a plan for the good of greyhound racing in general?
It is a known fact that greyhound racing is losing its popularity and facing many challenges, not least threats of track closures, lack of prize money and practitioners leaving the sport.
There is no magic wand which will make all of these problems disappear nor do we have any financial resource available to us to do so.
“I am really struggling to survive,” says Ten Large Down’s trainer...
AS one trainer will wallow in Derby glory at Wimbledon on Saturday so another is contemplating her future in greyhound racing, such is the current state of the industry.
Like many of her counterparts, Diane Henry is, and has been for some time, struggling with the increasing costs of running a kennel with precious little income from anywhere else, least of all, or rather none at all, from the industry.
“Word is going around that I’m quitting the game straight away, but that’s not the case. I will stick around for a while yet and take stock at the end of the year before considering whether or not to renew my licence,” she said.
GBGB were warned over Point of Sampling repercussions...
JUST three weeks into the Point of Registration sampling rule (POR) and there is pandemonium amongst owners and trainers.
The rule, whereby all new greyhounds must now be marked-up, micro-chipped, in some cases inoculated, and now must also provide a urine sample all in one fell swoop, came into effect on 16 May.
That this wasn’t going to be the smooth transition that the GBGB thought it would be is no surprise, chaos rules out there with some tracks refusing to register private dogs and others charging an additional fee on top of the requisite GBGB registration fees.
GOBATA concerns are ringing true...
LAST month GOBATA wrote to the GBGB expressing the concerns of our members over the introduction and potential implications of the new Point Of Registration Sampling rule which came into affect on 16 May.
It was brought to our attention that the rule would present certain impracticalities in a number of areas, including the co-operation of racing office staff when new greyhounds are presented for registration.
GOBATA suggested to the GBGB that it would be far more convenient, and certainly less expensive, if the registration process, complete with sampling, could be conducted at trainers’ kennels by local stipendiary stewards and/or
earmarking stewards.
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