Brealey looks to the future after Sunderland furore
GBGB's owner practitioner director pleased north east venue acted but wants to see change
Leading owner will be involved in Board's traps review
TONY BREALEY (pictured), the GBGB’s owner practitioner director, was pleased that Sunderland acted swiftly on two separate traps incidents at the track last week - but wants to see to further improvements in terms of how races are started in the future.
Sunderland cancelled racing last week after the second of two worrying episodes at the Wearside venue, but will race again on Monday after investigations into the cause were carried out and subsequent remedial work completed on the traps mechanism involved.
A statement was issued by Sunderland on Friday (see below).
Brealey, a leading owner himself, said: “As an owner it was awful to see the dogs put at risk, but thankfully no greyhound was seriously injured.
“However, my other concern was for the staff standing in front of the traps, because if the traps had opened early it could have resulted in serious injury to them.
“The early report from Sunderland backs up my assessment of what was at fault - and that was compromised air pressure.
“I’ve managed a business reliant on pneumatic systems for 47 years so can offer an insight into best practice in terms of general and preventative maintenance methodology, so I’m pleased I’ll be on the team doing the review of traps at the GBGB.
“I’d also like to reassure everyone that the GBGB took this issue seriously and the GBGB board did discuss this at length during our meeting on Wednesday in London.
“I’ve investigated incidents on many occasions and a couple of my early pre-review observations are that, when the traps are checked by the starter, the flag should be waved at the side of the traps. This reduces the time the starter stands in front of the runners.
“Some tracks already operate that operation and Oxford have done this for some time.
“The other area for improvement is to look at ways to fill the gap between trap gates. This was the route dogs took and caused them to become trapped.
“Sunderland acted quickly to investigate the cause and brought in the appropriate support to help that investigation.
“I heard people say Sunderland should be penalised, but they’ll have suffered significant financial cost with racing being suspended so already have been penalised.
“Whilst it’s sad to see these incidents, I’m confident some good will come from this in the long term. A review of traps and an agreed best practice on planned preventative maintenance will hopefully reduce the risk of this happening again.
“As always my message to greyhound fans, enthusiasts and practitioners, is to let me know if you have any suggestions about what should raise at our review.”
My email is [email protected]
