Nostalgia must not paper over the cracks

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THIS Friday heralds a special moment in time for greyhound racing as the sport celebrates a genuine milestone with a Dunstall Park gala commemorating 100 years of racing.

Not only will the six-race card pay homage to the first ever meeting at Belle Vue on July 24, 1926, but also to an era that saw the sport burst into life – with entertainment as well as the action on the Wolverhampton sand designed to take punters back to an era that welcomed the thrill of greyhound racing with open arms.

Dunstall Park, greyhound racing’s newest venue, seems a good place to host the meeting. The celebrations, marshalled by the GBGB, aim not only to remember the past century but also to look to the future, which is what owners Arc did when commissioning the circuit at Wolverhampton racecourse after losing Perry Barr to a council-approved development scheme.

There is nothing wrong with nostalgia. Those of us who have been around a while have plenty of tales about greyhounds, tracks and characters who have graced the sport and added colour to its rich heritage.

I was thinking about which runners have stayed with me over the years in terms of the impression they made and it would be a list too long to share here in its entirety.

I had a soft spot for a brilliant top-grader at Wimbledon in my formative years called Mister Plum, who was a trap one specialist over sharp four-bend trips and seemed to never stop winning, while my time as a young racing office official at Wembley brought me into contact with Phantom Flash, one of the fastest dogs I’ve ever put a stopwatch to.

I was also a massive fan of another of Nick Savva’s homebred stars, Sonic Flight. A beautiful, graceful dog, he of course transferred so much of his incredible ability to his dual Derby-winning son Westmead Hawk.

One of my proudest moments as a commentator was calling the Derby final at a heaving Wimbledon in 2001 when Sonic Flight was sent off a shade of odds-on but was beaten into second by the brilliant returning champion Rapid Ranger.

It was a race befitting its status – although I dare say if I heard the commentary back I’d probably wince given how much I remember putting into it. Thankfully I think the only way you could hear it in the Plough Lane cauldron was to stand in the toilets, so there probably weren’t that many takers!

BUT while it’s fun to look back, we also need to look forward, which is not always quite so pleasant given the myriad challenges and issues facing the modern-day sport.

The opposition continues to gather momentum, with support from politicians in both Scotland and Wales underlining the success of the antis’ pressure tactics. Anybody who has not signed the petition aimed at keeping the future of Welsh track Valley on the table for discussion is urged to do so.

Recent incidents such as the tragic deaths of three greyhounds at the on-site kennels at Star Pelaw, believed to be heat-related, are something that simply should not be happening and will only fuel the fire for those who fly the cruelty flag.

We are a sport populated by dog lovers, despite what those who berate us would have you believe, and keeping that message out there is crucial.

We’ve certainly come a long way since that first meeting at Belle Vue and the boom and bust that followed in the decades after. But we exist as a far more streamlined industry than we once were with just 16 licensed tracks, and the reliance on bookmaker funding will never sit comfortably with those who remember freer times.

Despite all that, the hope remains strong that there is life left in the old dog yet and that is definitely something worth celebrating. 

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