In an interview with the Greyhound Star, Rab McNair has demanded proof that the GBGB’s four day rule has been of benefit. Otherwise, he has called for the rule to be changed or scrapped completely.
“When are they going to do something about the four-day rule? If it wasn’t there, I’d be giving King Memphis a sprint run at Central Park this week, just to take the edge off him. He needs the run,” McNair told Floyd Amphlett.
“They’ve had their experiment. Let’s see if they can prove that the four day rule has been of any benefit. If not, they should scrap it or change it. It’s madness treating all the dogs the same. You could say, two days for sprinters, three days for standard distance, and four days for stayers.”
Had the GBGB implemented McNair’s ideas for this year, there would have been no need to have drawn lots for a voided heat of the Greyhound Derby or to have drawn lots again for the voided race at Sunderland last Friday which saw Swift Silly eliminated from the ARC Classic, when she was comfortably clear in her heat. A 3-day rule (instead of the current 4) would have enabled a re-run of both voided races; a far more satisfactory solution to void races in CAT 1 competition.
In the same interview, McNair identified a degree of hypocrisy “I think it is interesting that the man who pushed for this has his runners with Owen McKenna in Ireland and Owen will be using the schooling tracks between races for his dogs. I’m a big fan of Mark Bird and what he is trying to do for the industry and welfare. But I would like to see him sit down at a forum with trainers maybe twice a year and get feedback because this system isn’t working for us trainers.”