Last year we mentioned Lord Donoughue’s independent enquiry into the governance of greyhound racing in Great Britain. We’re pleased to report that in a relatively short space of time the Greyhound Board has been established and is now fully operational, incorporating the former NGRC and BGRB into one greatly enhanced organisation which we are confident will bring great benefits to the operation and promotion of the sport. I should like to record my thanks to Lord Donoughue and the transitional team for this impressive achievement. In a year that is likely to produce great challenges, I hope that the Fund’s contribution has helped in producing the best in modern regulatory bodies. The new Greyhound Board will take greyhound racing forward and strengthen all areas of the sport. As a reminder, the BGRF through its funding is able to contribute to all areas of the sport:
- improving the welfare of the racing greyhound;
- maintaining racing integrity;
- supporting prize money;
- encouraging and supporting the marketing of greyhound racing;
- supporting initiatives to improve the infrastructure of the sport, including data management, IT systems, training and communications;
- encouraging investment into the improvement of customer facilities and the consequent financial standing of greyhound racing by providing support grants to racecourse operators of up to 50% of the cost of new and improved facilities.
The Fund offices have also moved, in January 2009, to share premises with the new Greyhound Board whilst maintaining full confidentiality for bookmaker contributions.
INCOME
Bookmaker contributions during 2008 reached £13.8m, a record to date. However, we must recognise that in 2009 we face a tough year ahead for bookmaking and indeed for greyhound racing.
We continue to receive audit certificates from major contributing bookmakers (acknowledged here). We encourage all contributors to provide audit certificates as a way of demonstrating that, although voluntary, the Fund’s collection from off-course bookmakers continues to be based on actual shop turnover and that bookmakers are adhering to the spirit of successive agreements with Government. The rate of voluntary contribution remains at 0.6% of all greyhound betting turnover. During the course of 2009 we intend to continue our approaches to non-paying bookmakers. The 2008 campaign achieved some success and we intend to build on this. I ask that contributing bookmakers do all they can to encourage any non-paying colleague to change their ways and help the Fund and the bookmaking industry reach the 100% level.
WELFARE
In 2008 we further increased funding for greyhound welfare to almost £4 million, approaching one third of Fund income. It is thanks to such a healthy level of funding, combined with the professionalism and efforts of stakeholders across the industry and beyond, that the sport has been able to make significant steps to improve still further the welfare of greyhounds nationwide.
Running surface improvement projects were completed at 24 racecourses. Training and learning projects continued at a pace with track staff, kennel hands, trainers and veterinarians all benefiting from courses and seminars supported by the Fund. We are greatly encouraged by the desire of individuals and organisations to expand their knowledge and skills and by the move towards formal qualification throughout the sport.
The Retired Greyhound Trust received £1.7 million in support funding and homed a record 4,500 greyhounds, a great achievement by all involved. In addition, the Retired Greyhound Fund of the Greyhound Board assisted a number of local re-homing schemes to improve or expand their facility and capability. During the year we were called upon to provide support funding to assist the provision of welfare for the greyhounds affected by the closures of Walthamstow and Reading racecourses. We awarded over one hundred grants to trainers to assist kennel improvements and the provision of air management in vehicles.
The priority given to greyhound welfare will remain in 2009 as will the our active support to continue the good work in the fundamental areas of track safety, welfare research, trainers' assistance, training, education and support for retired greyhounds. We expect that we will be involved in supporting initiatives to be introduced by the Greyhound Board who will be closely involved with the development of the secondary legislation supporting the Animal Welfare Act.
INTEGRITY
In 2008 the Fund granted a total of £1.9m towards integrity measures. This included just over £1m on drug testing and research and payments made towards maintaining high levels of paddock security. We continued to fund the cost of greyhound earmarking and supported the ongoing research into the use of microchips. I am delighted to note that thanks to the effectiveness of the programmes supported, test positives continue to be low and confidence in the integrity of racing high.
RACECOURSES
Grants of £1.6m were made towards development projects at stadia, generating in excess of £4m total investment. The comparatively low take up of part grant towards development projects is I feel a reflection of the caution within the industry last year. Full details of grants awarded are available here. We will continue to do all we can to encourage and support investment in the improvement of racecourse facilities, the necessary fibre for the future growth and prosperity of greyhound racing.
PRIZE MONEY
Total prize money support in 2008 increased by over 20% from 2007 with £2.6m paid in contributions to graded races and a further £140,000 in ‘Christmas Bonus’ events, designed to give owners and trainers whose greyhounds are unlikely to compete in higher profile open race competitions the opportunity to race in heats and a final against greyhounds of a similar ability with a large cash prize and trophy on offer to the winner.
In addition, £100,000 was awarded in support of the Greyhound Breeders Forum to promote initiatives which encourage responsible British-based greyhound breeding. As in previous years, the Fund was the largest contributor towards the prize money pools of the two Produce Stakes competitions at Hall Green and Swindon.
MARKETING & IT
National marketing activity was increased significantly in 2008 to counter the adverse trading conditions faced by racecourse promoters and by the overwhelming majority of the sport, leisure and entertainment sectors. One benefit of the economic downturn was a reduction in cost to the industry of television advertising, which allowed a budget of £737,500 to fund two six-week advertising campaigns on ITV1, ITV2 and ITV4, targeting only those regions where stadia are located.
Racecourse promoters responded by investing in the ‘1p Meal Deal’, providing customers with a meal for only 1p. Almost 40,000 vouchers (permitting 80,000 admissions to the 22 participating stadia) were downloaded from the corresponding website, with some 10,000 more leads generated by supporting local media or promotional activity. The scheme was particularly successful at attracting those who had not previously attended greyhound racing, and an application was made by the Greyhound Board to repeat the offer in early 2009.
Grants to support local marketing activity were also increased, allowing racecourses to develop their marketing strategies and develop vital links with more local media outlets.
PEOPLE
Last year we spent just under 1.5% of our total income on administration, ensuring that 98.5% of income was applied to the benefit of the greyhound industry – a level of distribution few other organisations are able to claim.
A full list of directors can be seen here. Last year saw the departure of Charles Chandler, formerly chairman of the Racecourse Promoters Association, after serving on the Fund board since its inception in 1993 and we thank him for his fifteen years of dedicated service. At the year end, Lord Lipsey stepped down as a director after nearly five years on our board and a career of distinguished service to greyhound racing as Chairman of the BGRB at a time of testing political circumstances where he was able successfully to promote the image and influence of greyhound racing and start the process which has resulted in the establishment of the Greyhound Board. We welcomed Rachel Corden who is now also a director of the Greyhound Board.
Directors serving on the board committee in 2008 were (in alphabetical order) John Curran, Clive Feltham, Tom Kelly, David Lipsey, Alan Ross and Joe Scanlon with myself as chairman. The audit & finance committee comprised Clarke Osborne and Ian Spearing.
On behalf of greyhound racing I sincerely thank the Board directors who have continued to give their time voluntarily to further the Fund and its key role in the collection of contributions and support of greyhound racing. In the coming year we face particular challenges and their foresight and experience will prove to be invaluable.
Charles Lenox-Conyngham
Chairman,
British Greyhound Racing Fund