FROM THE SHERIFF'S DESK: REVERSAL OF NSW GREYHOUND RACING BAN IS NO BIG SURPRISE

By John Schreck | Wednesday, October 12, 2016

John Schreck, a former Chief Steward in both Sydney and Hong Kong, has seen both the colourful and the dark sides of racing. His wealth of experience and his deep knowledge of racing matters across the board is unquestioned and the reputation he built as a racing ‘lawman’ remains firmly entrenched in racing’s history. Shreck’s personal blog, ‘From the Sheriff’s Desk', appears exclusively on HRO.

Readers might remember that I said in at the time of the announcement of the original intended ban on greyhound racing in New South Wales that Mr Baird might have rushed into a decision without proper consultation and that it was always going to be difficult for him to manage the fallout from it.

In particular, it was always going to be very hard to ban the sport in the country areas.

I don’t think there is a great desire for the reversal of the decision in the city, but in the country clearly there is. For example, Coonamble, in New South Wales ... they have a very big greyhound meeting which means a lot to the town.

So the reversal doesn’t surprise me at all ... but there is still much that has to be managed and there are still serious difficulties involved.

How they are going to manage restricting the number of pups I’m not sure, because the surplus is going to have to be shipped interstate or put down.

That is going to flood the markets interstate or create awful problems within the animal welfare lobby.

That will take a lot of managing!

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This latest outcome has been touted in some quarters as the result of ‘people power.’

In general, I am not a big fan of people power and I don’t think we should get carried away with the concept because it can often be channelled the wrong way.

While people power does worry me for that reason, obviously there is the other side to that coin.

People power brought about the downfall of Marcos in the Philippines and returned the country to democracy ... and there are many other examples of the good it can do ... so there is very much two sides to that coin.

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Whatever the reason behind the reversal of the ban, I think Mr Baird really should be commended, not condemned, for reversing the ban.

He certainly did rush into it too quickly but now having realised that he has done that, what is wrong with trying to correct it?

I think it is the appropriate thing for anyone to do and, to his credit, Mr Baird has done the right thing.

They put rubbers on pencils years ago so people could correct their mistakes. I don’t know of anybody that hasn’t made mistakes. We all have done so.

Mr Baird has gone up in my estimation for doing what he did yesterday.

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The Michelle Payne situation, whereby she cannot ride in other states because she has a jockey / trainers license is something I just cannot understand.

There has always been an Australian Rule of Racing which said local rules cannot be written which are inconsistent with the national rule.

So how some states can have licensed trainers / jockeys I really don’t know. It is really disappointing that an issue such as that could not be handled nationally.

Clearly there should be licensed trainers / jockeys.
It is inevitable that it is going to happen right across the country so the sooner this option is legitimised the better.

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The three horse race won by Winx on Saturday has drawn plenty of comment.

I think races of the nature do have a place in the racing landscape in certain circumstances.

There is nothing wrong with a bit of variety from time to time.

What I don’t think there is a place for is the margin betting that went on in that race.

I don’t like that at all ... that a certain horse is going to win by a certain margin ... well, I think that ought to be banned nationally as quickly as possible.

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A final thought.

If I were a bookmaker I would be laying Winx in the Cox Plate.

I think she is beatable.