Jonathan Hobbs with Luck On Sunday Rebuttal

It was interesting to many to see greyhound racing get a mention on Luck On Sunday last week on Racing UK. Sadly, the mention was not a positive one with Matt Zarb-Cousin weighing in with his opinion on the sport. People are fully entitled to their opinions but when one is as poorly informed as Zarb-Cousin, perhaps it is better not to voice it on a public forum. 

What was a shame is that until talking about greyhound racing, he had made salient points about an idea of separating money in bookmakers accounts between horse racing/sports and casino/games. A plan to try and distance sports betting where knowledge is king from games of sheer chance and luck is a good one. It was disappointing that Zarb-Cousin felt the need to try and throw greyhound racing under the bus as a game of chance. 

His 'evidence' based claims were backed up by nothing of the sort as he floundered around a subject he clearly knew nothing about. The issue as always for greyhound racing (as we have seen down the years) is that those who shout loudest get heard, even when it's unintelligible nonsense.

Jonathan Hobbs had the chance to respond on the show this morning. Nick Luck himself is very supportive of the sport, making his position clear on the show last week and once more stating that to be the case this morning.

Jonathan Hobbs started saying that "in many ways it brought the sport together...we were pretty unanimous in condemnation of what he (Zarb-Cousin) said and it's heartening that a lot of horse racing contacts on social media with a foot in both camps were outraged by what he said. It was crazy and lacked any evidence."

"Greyhound welfare has transformed in the last 20 years... it's hugely improved. Welfare standards have never been higher in greyhound racing, it's just about getting that message across. The spotlight is very much on animal welfare whether that be horse or greyhound racing." 

Hobbs continued, "We are so transparent and confident as a sport to go against the slanderous allegations about the sport. Certain charities and bodies trying to level these ridiculous figures that they're plucking from thin air...you're battling against people that have just got absolutely no knowledge of what's going on" 

Asked about the future, Hobbs said "I still say it's a sleeping giant of a sport, if you were at Romford last night, it's full of young people enjoying themselves at the track."

Luck ended with a very pertinent question, 'do you feel let down by the horse racing industry?' Hobbs responded "There is a special relationship between horse and greyhound racing, we've got to make the most of that and support each other."