November'07 - Greyhounds Queensland

Secretary's NotesROCKHAMPTONTHE club has been caught up in theEquine influenza saga with bio security inplace for all meetings since the outbreak asthe club shares the facilities with thethoroughbred racing club with some onehundred horses stabled on course.There has been some inconvenience topatrons and licensees and disruptions totrialling schedules but the bigger picture ofTAB generation of punting revenue must besafeguarded. It is anticipated thatnormal racing and trial conditionswill be back in place by Decemberbut club officials will announcechanges as they are made available.All country non-tab clubs existprimarily from disbursed fundsavailable through the GRA from TABrevenue proceeds.The committee have noted thatNSW greyhound administrators havealready reduced prizemoney acrossthe board to all clubs by some twentypercent as an interim measure andQueensland clubs must be under thesame threat of a prizemoneydownturn in the coming twelvemonths.The onus must now rest with allclubs to independently review theirown budgets and commercialpractices and take the necessary stepsto keep the club operation in a viablesituation.The AGM was held on October28 and congratulations are in orderto all current committee memberswho have the responsibility tocontinue the club trading successfullyin these difficult times.Racing in October has seen David Jonesfrom Bundaberg having a good trot with histravelling team including a treble on October4 which would have been four winners apartfrom a “no race” incident during the card.Bill Boon and Christine Pollard continueto dominate the fast class races with Billedging away in the premiership challenge.Jeff Kuhl has been having a good run withhis small string and Kenzill has stampedhimself as one to follow from the Glenleekennel.Darren Taylor who holds dual licenceswith the greyhounds and harness racing haspurchased acreage out of town and will beWhite Rose Boarding KennelsWalloon, IpswichRearing - Spelling - WhelpingQuality fresh food, lots of handling & socializing.the name to follow over the next couple ofyears as he is a very capable trainer and shouldbe an astute breeder.GOLD COASTThe issue of the government taking overthe Gold Coast greyhound track has suddenlygone very quiet since Anna Bligh took overas Premier.Due to the Equine Virus the club jumpedat the chance to run a Saturday night racemeeting in October. We all felt it was a greatsuccess and people have been asking me eversince when we are having another.The passing of our long time treasurerJohn Young was a big shock to not only theclub, but to the entire greyhound industry.John will be missed by many.The Club will be holding a 457m JohnYoung Maiden Memorial Series. Eight Heatswill be held on November 20, four Semi-Finals on November 27 and the Final will berun on December 4.More information can be obtained fromthe office or from our websitewww.goldcoastgreyhounds.com.auThe Club will race on Sunday, November4 and not on November 6 which is MelbourneCONGRATULATIONSLead Training.70mtr grassed long runs. Large exercise areas.Very high standard kenneling.Hydro bath facilities.Supporters of the Greyhound Adoption ProgramLicensed/Registered & Approved by:-QGRA, Qld state government, Ipswich City Council.Go Makatam on winning the 431m IpswichAuction, and Perfect Timing making thefinal. BOTH reared at White Rose!Good Rearing doesn't cost ... it paysPh. Peter & Marion Furbank. (07) 54645422E.Mail whiterosekennels@bigpond.comCup day.TOWNSVILLEThe club will hold a limited number ofSaturday race meetings before the annualChristmas holidays with December 15 beingthe next scheduled.On this night the finals of the GRA Maiden1000 and the 31st Anniversary Series will berun.IPSWICHCongratulations to the connections of GoMakatam who made it the Highland SmashRepair Auction Series double when he wonthe recent 431m leg of the race series.Combine this with his win earlier this yearEar-branding, marking upGraham Haswell is available at the following times for the marking up of greyhounds fornaming and the clearance of the greyhound's registration certificate for racing and/or otherpurposes. Proof of vaccination may be presented at this time.Ear branding and marking up of litters is by appointment only.Ipswich - Every Thursday Night 6-7.30pm (kennel block)Mango Hill Trial Track last Sunday of month 8-9amPh 54796640 or 0419 726773Sharpe Racing KennelsGreyhoundsTo TrainPerformed or MaidensWantedSpecialists also inPre-trainingPhone(07) 54628819or0427 623617in the 520m race and the connectionscollected the race bonus on offer for anygreyhound achieving this result.This year’s series certainly belongs to GoMakatam and his connections,congratulations.The club would like to thank all peoplewho made the recent Highland Smash RepairPuppy Auction another successful day.Although the average of $1630 was downslightly on recent years it was pleasing to seethe increased support of interstatevendors and buyers. We look forwardto these pups competing in the 2009race series.It was good to get some Saturdaynight racing back to our industry all beit due to difficult circumstances. Thesupport by the public in attendance andbetting turnover proves that there isgenuine support for a full time Saturdayslot for the Queensland greyhoundindustry.Surely if the decision makers arecommercially objective with regard tothis topic then they must make thedecision to give the QueenslandGreyhound industry a Saturday slot.At the recent AGM the clubreported an operating profit of$68,271.75.The balance sheet presented to ourmembers represented an increase byover 5% in the worth of our club andincrease in the cash reserves of ourclub.It was highlighted that the droughtwas now impacting on our financialresources due to the purchase of waterto prepare our track for racing andtrialling and this would effect this year’sfinancial position.Overall the committee of the club was verysatisfied with the result in an environmentwhere many sporting clubs are struggling.Troy Sharpehas branched out to fulltime trainingafter a successful hobby career of 10years. We are a proven kennel havingproduced multiple Albion Park, TABand Provincial winners.The (November, 2007) Journal Page 32