Championship Venues/order Of Champs

[June Jonigk]

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I don't hold the WCRA responsible as it was my choice to run her on the ground "NO ONE FORCED ME TO"?

I don't think anyone has said the WCRA were at fault Mark, in fact we've all said they did the best they could in the circumstances. I believe they had previously stated that they wanted sole use of the ground, and thought they had sole use of the ground - but the cricket was still arranged.

NO WE'RE NOT BLAMING THE WCRA. Did you see them all working hard in the blistering heat? A thankless task for most. Decent racing people appreciate the work that goes in to organising the Championships - none of these people want to see dogs injured either.

I started this thread as a constructive debate on trying to find a better solution than running bend racing when the ground cannot be made good enough for our dogs.

John Doe - I believe we've heard from you in the past, and as far as I can remember, your comments were not worth reading, so I shall refrain from taking the bait you seem to want to dangle.

Paul Melia - I don't think I know you, but you obviously are an inexperienced racer (if indeed you are a racer), as your comments are beyond belief, and you obviously have no concern for your own dogs.

Lets get it straight [SIZE=14pt]NO ONE IS GETTING AT THE WCRA![/SIZE]

This thread was started to try and put together some constructive ideas on making our sport as safe as it can be. Please add your input if you have some constructive comments, and please ignore the trolls who seem to want to stir up unpleasantness.

 

[Scott Frodsham]

Surely some whippets like to hear their feet rattle, so why disadvantage them in favour of ones that don't.
A good champion should be one that can win on all surfaces and in any conditions. It's only 150 or 240 yards and if a whipp can't do that a few times one day a week then the breed is in a sorry state.

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Paul there is a saying... Sometimes it's better to let people think that you're an idiot, rather than open your mouth and confirm the fact! :- "

 

[Vicky]

I started this thread as a constructive debate on trying to find a better solution than running bend racing when the ground cannot be made good enough for our dogs.

I'm probably sticking my two penneth in where it's not wanted again - BUT why do the ped racers run bends mid summer when the ground is way too hard? I know our 150 straight track which is used for champs is watered like buggery in summer leading up to champs, you just couldn't get anywhere near as much water as you'd need on a bend to get it anything like fit for running on in mid summer surely. Maybe a thought to stick to early/late in the year for bend meetings when the ground is much softer?

The sand finishes we have are good, and i expect do prevent a LOT of toe injuries at the end when the ground's hard, like Mark says though it needs to be dug out at "filled" not just prinkled over the grass, we put a layer over the grass on our track this year and IMO bad move!

 

[Mark Roberts]

Maybe squizzle could tell me. he seems to be very clued up on where the dogs were injured

umm Squizzle wasn't at this champs so might be a little hard for them.

Thanks for your input Vicky (it's nice to have a common sense reply from an experianced racer ), Having spent time (if only briefly) talking with non ped racers about the merits of having straight/bend racing seasons rather than the mixed seasons we have at the moment in ped racing it would make common sense to run the peds in a simlar way ie: bend racing early and late and straight racing through the summer months.

 

[June Jonigk]

I agree with you Vicky, and thanks for a sensible reply.

It must have been two years ago, when we ran a bend at Moreton, the ground was rock hard everywhere else, but the ground at Moreton was amazing. The ground had been watered all week, and was near perfect. The facilities are there to run straight or bend at any time of year, but only when there is no cricket, as they want the grass short, and the ground not saturated.

I hope the committee will have talks with the groundsman/whoever, and either have sole use for the weekend, or change the order of the Champs so the bends are at each end of the year.

The weather these days is normally good right up to the end of November, and someone suggested to me (and I think it's a good idea), that we start the season earlier, say end of Feb, suspend racing for a couple of months over the summer, and run on into November. Opens can be difficult once the clocks have gone back, but we could always start earlier - weigh in until 10.30, and start racing at 11.00am.

The sand finish is something that could be looked into, but I doubt the groundsman at Moreton would like a sandpit dug in the middle of his cricket ground!! Realisticly, only clubs with permanent sole venues could try this one. I wasn't keen on sand spread on top of grass, but when you think of a sandpit - oohh what fun!! :teehee:

 

[Mark Roberts]

but when you think of a sandpit - oohh what fun!!

Got my bucket & spade in the van ready :thumbsup:

 

[Judy]

I don't think the Cricket club even needs to bought into it. It is their ground after all and I don't suppose we can expect them to accomodate us at the expense of the cricket. Surel alll that needs doing is to run the bend champs first and last to avoid the cricket season. Maybe they wouldn't mind the grass being left longer then. As much good work as the WCRA workers do, its very hard to beat the weather. I was told though, that at the first champs last year the ground was so soft that the lure would have pulled the rollers out of the ground on a bend and I do realise the weather is also hard to predict and another year it might be rock hard at the ends of the season and wet in the middle but on average......

I think Squizzle is almost certainly right about where the dogs were getting injured. I was told by one of the half way judges on that corner that the dogs were slipping sideways an awful lot on the first bend due to the very short grass and that is what caused such a lot of the bumping there. I could see that too from where we were sitting and I remember the same thing happening last year. I would imagine that is where the dogs would have been skinning their pads as normally its only the stopper pads that get skinned and that is usually at the finish but at Morton it seems to be the toe and frog pads that get skinned too. There's certainly something different about Morton that causes these skinned pads. It seems to me that the sideways slipping on the first bend is indeed very likely to be the cause.

 

[Paul Melia]

So what constitutes experience? Owning racers or observing them?

Just for the record I have worked in horse racing for ten years which involved getting them fit and race riding. Transferable skills I believe (although I have yet to put a saddle on Zola, nor do I intend to!) are good enough for me to pass an opinion on whippet racing.

I also have been greyhound racing on many occasions and I am passionate about hunting with dogs. Once again transferable skills.

Strike, Photo Finish was a pretty smart tool coursing, dynamite ferreting and bushing and couldn't be called a slouch at the racing dimension either. Your opinions seem to be set in stone, so I shan't comment on any more of your posts.

I think that some whippet fanciers have taken 'risk assessment' to ridiculous levels. Levels which are detrimental to the breed. JMHO.

Scott, here is another saying 'Live a little' and let your dogs do the same as they are only with us for a short time. Another one is "It is better to live a day as a tiger than a thousand days as a sheep"!!

 

[Strike Whippets]

Well thats ok then Paul .......as long as you have been Greyhound racing a few times I shall value your wide knowledge of racing Whippets (w00t) ........Its obvious that skills are transferable when working with and owning racing/working animals, but it is common sense when it comes to their safety needs when we are putting them into the position of either racing or working, as this is our decision to do this, so its up to us to look out for them ...........

 

[Smiffy@VeronnaV]

:blink: An interesting thread - and one worthy of serious debate. I was at the meeting last autumn when the moving of the champs bends was 'debated'. From where I was sitting there was no logical reasons put forward by the committee for NOT keeping the programme of champs as it had been proposed. I was not under the impression that the reasoning was based on the seasons or otherwise of bitches. But, I might have missed that bit. As far as I can recollect, the committee didn't see the need to move the bends, and that was the reasoning. And as we all know, we don't belong to the WCRA - our clubs and dogs do. High summer is perhaps not the best time for bend racing, however careful people are of the ground one cannot predict the weather. And it is not the weather of the week, but what has gone before it that makes the ground good or bad. A dry Spring will result in hard going in the Summer.

If you believe that it would be advantageous to the dogs to run the bend at the beginning/end of the season, then write to your club and ask them to submit the proposal to the WCRA as an agenda item at the talk in. Perhaps more than one club could submit the same proposal. If the commitee believe that the racing fraternity are serious about it, they will listen to you. They race their dogs too, and have the best interests of all dogs at the heart of what they do. And then turn up at the talk in - in numbers large enough to make your voices heard by the committee. :luck:

 

[Judy]

This was on the agenda at the last talk-in. Since then, after a unaminous vote of Gloucester members at our AGM I was asked to send them another letter to ask them to reconsider changing the order of the champson the grounds of safety, which I did, but never got a reply.

 

[conway]

Surely some whippets like to hear their feet rattle, so why disadvantage them in favour of ones that don't.
A good champion should be one that can win on all surfaces and in any conditions. It's only 150 or 240 yards and if a whipp can't do that a few times one day a week then the breed is in a sorry state.

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Im glad someone has spoken some common sence for a change. How many owners withdrew their dogs before racing started because the surface was so bad ?

Maybe squizzle could tell me. he seems to be very clued up on where the dogs were injured.

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perhaps you have never been informed but our dogs are pets 1st, racers 2nd, so therefore their wellbeing is our 1st concern.

 

[Paul Melia]

perhaps you have never been informed but our dogs are pets 1st, racers 2nd, so therefore their wellbeing is our 1st concern.

A classic statement which the broadcaster probably thinks should entitle them to gain the moral high ground.

However, my bitch atttibutes are as a pet, ferreting, bushing and racing dog and in no particular order. I think as much of her as other people think of their dogs. I seem to be a bit more realistic when I accept that she may in the course of our activities get injured or horror of horrors, killed!

No sport is totally safe and how boring if it was. If you can't bear the thought your dog might get injured, don't race it!!!

 

[Strike Whippets]

perhaps you have never been informed but our dogs are pets 1st, racers 2nd, so therefore their wellbeing is our 1st concern.

A classic statement which the broadcaster probably thinks should entitle them  to gain the moral high ground.

However, my bitch atttibutes are as a pet, ferreting, bushing and racing dog and in no particular order. I think as much of her as other people think of their dogs. I seem to be a bit more realistic when I accept that she may in the course of our activities get injured or horror of horrors, killed!

No sport is totally safe and how boring if it was. If you can't bear the thought your dog might get injured, don't race it!!!

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Good God you really are an idiot .........

 

[John E Greenwood]

Where has all this come from............It's news to me that I'm such an evil so and so... obviously you know better......I can guess where the rumour started, there is only one person who has moved from the Northern to S.C......I wish him well and hope that he makes many new friends on the open circuit.

 

[Scott Frodsham]

Can I try and bring this topic back on track? It appeared to be started with the dogs welfare in mind, not "I'll run mine on broken glass!" type of attitude.

My mum always used to say, that if you've nothing nice to say, say nothing! :b

 

[BeeJay]

perhaps you have never been informed but our dogs are pets 1st, racers 2nd, so therefore their wellbeing is our 1st concern.

A classic statement which the broadcaster probably thinks should entitle them  to gain the moral high ground.

However, my bitch atttibutes are as a pet, ferreting, bushing and racing dog and in no particular order. I think as much of her as other people think of their dogs. I seem to be a bit more realistic when I accept that she may in the course of our activities get injured or horror of horrors, killed!

No sport is totally safe and how boring if it was. If you can't bear the thought your dog might get injured, don't race it!!!

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Paul whilst you are entitled to your opinions, to most of us racers our dogs are creatures that we will protect and try to ensure that they don't get injured. Many people feel like myself that we have a moral obligation to ensure that when we run our dogs we do so with the odd's stacked so that they will be safe. To do otherwise would be for many an unacceptable level of risk. So I'd say as a body of people we ARE concerned with the health and welfare of our dogs.

At the AGM I voted for the Gloucester proposal. I stand by my vote and by what the Secretary of Gloucester has done subsequently on behalf of the members of which I am one. Nothing I have seen or heard since has made me change my views. Given the chance I will vote the same way again.

Peddie whippet racing should not be some kind of macho sport where our ego's matter more than the dogs welfare. I agree totally with Dave (someone who is so macho that he doesn't need to posture ).

 

[Scott Frodsham]

Can we either close this thread or at least tone it down, moderators? :b

 

[debbie]

i have just read a couple of replies to samnd pitts, i am a non-ped racer and agree with mark, the sand does not bother nail beds or eyes , we wash sand away after race and have had no bother with injuries from sand pitt finishes, much safer in hot dry conditions

 

[BeeJay]

That's interesting Debbie. The finishes do worry me.