“We’ve only got a few years left there so why not enjoy it while we can?”
That was champion trainer Andy Lord’s reaction to the proposed move by Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW) to shift midweek metropolitan racing from Wentworth Park to Richmond.
Lord, NSW’s most prolific winning trainer, said he finds the decision to move the Wednesday night meetings to Richmond as “strange” and a “backward step” for metropolitan racing.
“Wentworth Park is our city track so that’s where city racing should be,” Lord said.
“We have to be out of Wentworth Park in a few years (2027) so shouldn’t we enjoy it while we can?
“When you ask people where they want to win a race or what they aspire to they say Wentworth Park, not Richmond.
“Down in Melbourne they have Sandown Park and The Meadows as their city tracks and we have Wentworth Park. Richmond is a provincial track with provincial facilities.
“Of all the tracks I race at, I get less injuries from Wentworth Park than anywhere else, and the way Richmond is built now it races like a speed track for short-course dogs.
“Doesn’t look or feel like a city track to me, it’s that simple.”
While refusing to say he’ll boycott a move to Richmond on a Wednesday night, Lord, who provides more city runners than any other kennel, said he does have reservations.
“I think we are all still waiting to hear why this decision has been made first,” Lord said.
“If the meetings do go there then we’ll make it work because we have to and I’ll agree that the middle distance start is an advantage. But as I said, it just seems a step backwards.
“But if they go there you can’t be running 300m, 400m races or we are just making what is already a problem worse and actually enabling it.”
With the future of metropolitan racing in NSW following the 2027 exit date from Wentworth Park still no clearer, Lord has called on GRNSW and GBOTA to devise a clear plan for the future for the benefit of industry participants.
“Surely Richmond isn’t the plan for city racing when Wentworth Park closes?” Lord stated.
“We’ve got all these tracks being built, Muswellbrook, Goulburn, Dapto and Lithgow but what about city racing? Surely that needs to be worked out before anything else.”
With any handshake deal from government for an early exit out of Wentworth Park forlorn, if a new metropolitan centre-of-excellence is to be built, it will need to be financed by the industry.
The potential sale of the GBOTA-owned Appin asset continues to be raised as the best – and perhaps only – way in which to raise the necessary funds.
“The industry needs a world class facility to replace Wentworth Park,” Lord said.
“The sooner everyone gets on the same page and works out a blueprint for what the future looks like the better. But with what’s happening with these race dates right now it seems they’re not on the same page.”
Lord also said the idea of racing at Wentworth Park on a Sunday which would likely result in a raft of 280m events lacked sense.
“It just cheapens the product in my opinion.”