MARK SUTHERLAND

Weblog: How I see it

Give punters and poor Mills Ferrari a chance

A moaning blog today. Whether it is because I am absolutely shattered or overworked I don’t know, but I have a bee in my bonnet and need to release it.

Having started off ‘Eyecatchers’ at the start of my blogs four weeks ago I have been following my own selections with a view to back them. In the past I have always made notes of dogs to look out for next time and the hope is the grader hasn’t seen the same signs as me. Now I am certainly not saying the graders look at my blog, but I am certain they see the same good run in defeat from a dog and make notes.

The problem then arises that next time the greyhound in question is given a tougher task by either encountering a tougher draw or as my case below highlights given a rise in grade without winning. This does the greyhound’s confidence any favours or encourages owners.

The bitch in question is Mills Ferrari at Sunderland. Now I noted her after an excellent run in an A5 when she was greener than grass, hardly surprising as she is still a pup and in my opinion was a winner waiting to happen. Next time she raced she went in as a reserve in an A4, again she ran a blinder in defeat but looked very apprentice like. Next time out she ran in a handicap and was battered around the track and then today she was out again in an A4, where she found trouble again and looked like she was suffering from a lack of confidence.

Some people may think this is acceptable but I would be livid if I was the owner. She should have stayed in A5 until winning even it meant going off at 1-2.

I had a chat with a colleague at the Racing Post Juvenile on Tuesday and I said one of the issues of the sport is we are attracting the wrong type of people through the gates and his reply was ‘They need to get people through the gates, as there are hardly any punters going dog racing anymore’ .

Well excuse me for being blunt but if we stopped treating greyhound enthusiasts like idiots by trying to make every race 3/1 the field then just maybe punters would start coming back.

I was a regular at my local track and I would normally go 3 evenings a week and even take a day off in the week to go to the BAGS. Most cards had 4 or 5 betting opportunities and I was happy to spend the whole meeting waiting for these races. The races then got much tougher and I was sitting through 12 races an evening and not having a bet. After a few weeks of this I decided to give it up and spend my time more wisely. I would guess this is what has happened to a lot of the greyhound regulars.

I went to Kempton last week for the Racing Post Chase and there were two odds on shots running, it didn’t put me off as a punter as it gave me a choice, I either take the cramped odds, play the forecasts or wait for another race. Greyhound racing needs to cater for the real gamblers, they are the ones who contribute to the Fund and to do this I see nothing wrong with a couple of short things on a card, even odds on. Instead we have to encounter lottery style races and in my opinion it is more like betting on virtual greyhound racing these days.

Rant over and I have to say that not all tracks fall into this category, although BAGS racing is unappealing to a proper punter, the same can be said of some evening cards and this will continue to drive punters and owners away until all tracks start putting on more attractive betting races.