Question:  Why was this not done before the announcement to cease total greyhound racing in NSW by June 30 next year?

Straight away this affects clubs like Cowra, Young, Temora in an area where most trainers would travel to with dogs probably not capable of winning at TAB meetings.

It means club secretaries on a salary will probably have to cease work and most certainly those who have derived income of any sort from helping out at meetings will now have nowhere to go….let alone the countless trainers who would rarely get a look in at a TAB meeting.

All this is doing is making more and more people angry, particularly in those towns I have mentioned and they are only in this immediate area.

And just to prove how nonsensical things are becoming, the RSPCA have for some time been on the backs of horseracing officialdom over jumps racing and the whipping of horses.

Well the racing industry took note and brought in a rule that a horse could only be struck five times in the straight before the 100m mark of the finish of a race.

In recent weeks this has happened; a horse won in NSW hit six times…but won by a nose, the shortest margin in horseracing.

In another instance jockey struck a horse too many times and the horse won and in Brisbane a horse won but a protest was lodged because it had been hit too many times.

The point is jockeys are trying to win and do not carry calculators in one hand or in their head to work out under pressure how many times they have hit a horse; quite simply the ruling has to be changed!

- Dennis Booth

Meanwhile thousands of greyhounds are expected to be surrendered when greyhound racing is banned next year.

Staff at Orange and Dubbo’s RSPCA shelters are bracing themselves for an influx of the breed. 

The greyhounds, like all rescue dogs, will be offered a kennel, bedding, water and food.

The RSPCA is now liaising with other shelters and rescue groups throughout the state to assist in the re-homing of the dogs.