Sport must open eyes; LETTERS.

I WAS very disappointed to receive the latest GBGB Calendar. It is clear that almost every track has reduced its open-race programme either in quality or quantity and sometimes in both.

Do stadium managements not realise that if the open-race programme is not supported by them then the big players will pull out of the sport and that will ultimately kill the game at the grass-roots level? How can owners continue to spend tens of thousands on greyhounds to race for pounds 150? It is ridiculous.

The fact the Sky programme has not been agreed for 2010 is also very concerning and I understand that this is also due to tracks not being prepared to underwrite the prize-money for their big competitions.

The GBGB have got to step up and show their value in situations like this. I have heard that their total funding is about pounds 10m and we have all heard the rumours that they wasted pounds 500,000 on the artificial surface project, and that they are giving pounds 6 to the tracks for every 1p meal deal served.

If these rumours are even remotely accurate it is about time the GBGB stopped subsidising the tracks and set aside some money to fund the prize-money for our major competitions, because if they die then our sport dies.

Promoters - please respond by either correcting me or reassuring me that you are prepared to put more into our sport. Owners currently provide your product (the greyhounds) plus often sponsor races (ask Len Ponder) and then we pay to eat, drink and bet at your tracks (not always top quality and fair prices).

GBGB - please tell us when are you going to step up and apply some of the money you receive back to the owners via increased prize-money across all standards of racing.

Steve Fluin Syndicate Secretary The Champagne Club Richard Hayler, GBGB director of policy and acting CEO, replies: "I can promise Steve and other owners reading this that the pounds 2.5m - a quarter of all Fund money - BGRF prize-money is the biggest item in our budget and while other areas of spending took a substantial cut when Fund income fell from pounds 11.5m to pounds 10m, the fixed payment per graded runner remained intact.

"Whether any of these funds should be allocated to open-racing is an interesting debate. There's clearly an argument that quality open racing generates its fair share of the voluntary levy and deserves a share of the spoils.

"However, the Federation of British Greyhound Owners Associations has always expressed a view that the enjoyment of owning an open-class performer makes it less imperative to receive Fund support and this view has been backed up elsewhere.

"In the 2006 BGRB prize-money survey, 402 owners and trainers against 124 voted that BGRF cash should be restricted to graded racing.

"Last July, Bob Betts wrote an interesting and well-argued article in the Irish Sporting Press calling for Fund money to be used to top up the value of our most historically significant Category One races on the basis that the additional prestige created by the added value would give us more chance to attracting publicity and increased attendances.

"I raised this with the BGRB Racing Committee which sympathised with the argument but reflected on the generally negative response received when the Board underwrote the Scottish Derby two years earlier.

"The Committee believed, as did I, that while the prize funds for some of our biggest races hadn't moved with the times, the onus should be on the promoter to work with the sponsor to mutually develop and improve the value and prestige of a race.

"As a general rule, once something is underpinned by central funds it very rarely returns to being privately funded. Even though it may be tougher finding sponsors now than in previous years, I firmly believe that rather than further slicing up the money we already have through the BGRF, the efforts of the GBGB should be focused on bringing in new money and attracting new sponsors.

"This is an initiative already being explored by the GBGB Commercial Committee, which is also closely monitoring developments with the 2010 Sky contract.

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Steve Fluin: real concerns