BY JEM ANSHAW
At this stage, there will be no more greyhound racing taking place at the Muswellbrook Greyhound Track following a review of Greyhound Racing NSW facilities.
Greyhound Racing NSW CEO Steve Griffin shared there has not been any races held there since November.
“The track had become problematic, and there was a high injury rate occurring, and so we stopped racing,” he told The Hunter River Times.
“It was going to cost us a lot of money to fix all the problems and get it to the minimum track standards that the government now holds us to.”
There were issues with watering, the design and layout of the track as well as everything associated with Muswellbrook because it is the last grass track in Australia which requires specific maintenance.
Part of an optimisation review undertaken by Greyhound Racing NSW also found there were too many tracks being operated in the state, and there isn’t funding available to keep them all racing.
Maitland and Gunnedah are now the closest tracks for local trainers to compete.
There are plans for the future use of the Sydney Street facility, with Greyhound Racing NSW looking to use the amenities for one of their other initiatives.
“The community has been good to us, and so we want to continue our relationship and invest further and turn it into a Greyhounds as Pets facility, which will be there for years to come,” Steve explained.
“It will offer short term accommodation while we place the Greyhounds with an adopter, usually that’s done within a couple of days, and worst-case scenario, 60 days.
“These are very short-term facilities, some greyhounds need some preparation and training that could be provided at the facility, and then we get them on someone’s couch as quickly as possible.”
Some modifications to the grounds would be made to accommodate meet and greet spaces as well as exercise space for the dogs staying there, but with the state-of-the-art kennels that were opened in 2023 there is already very comfortable accommodation for the dogs.
All of this is in the early draft stages with planning approvals required.
