Racing suspended at Australia’s ‘deadliest’ greyhound track

2 weeks ago 19

Racing at Queensland’s new greyhound racing hub has been suspended due to unsafe conditions – a decision made after a string of dog fatalities at the brand new $85 million three-track facility.

The annual Brisbane Cup was abandoned on Saturday after two races, with scheduled meets on Monday and Thursday also cancelled at what Racing Queensland has described as the “world’s best” greyhound racing venue.

“The decision was made after the Q2 Parklands track was deemed unsuitable for racing,” RQ said in a statement.

A high-speed collision during a greyhound race at The Q in May at one of the new venue’s warm-up races.

At least 11 greyhounds have died at The Q since track trials in March, according to anti-racing campaigners, with most of them euthanised after picking up injuries during races.

The most recent, Beau Ripple, was euthanised on the track on June 28 after suffering a foreleg injury. That followed on from the deaths of Texas Wedge and Divided By Nine on June 16, Spring Freya on June 3 and Travis’s Scrub on May 17.

The former Labor Queensland government put $44 million from the racing infrastructure fund towards the facility at Purga, south of Ipswich, which officially opened last month.

Announcing the venue in 2022, then-racing minister Grace Grace said track design and injury prevention experts had been engaged to help design the track.

Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds president Amy MacMahon said that approach had clearly failed.

MacMahon, until last year the Greens MP for South Brisbane, said The Q was responsible for 11 of the 59 greyhound deaths nationwide this year, which made it the “deadliest track in the country”.

“We’re calling for an end to greyhound racing, at the very least at The Q,” she said.

“They to postpone all racing until they can deal with the safety issues, the condition of the ground and the way that the racing is run there, at the very least.

Former South Brisbane Greens MP Amy MacMahon is now president of the Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds.

“But ultimately, we need to get rid of greyhound racing in Queensland and across the country.

“This is incredibly wasteful sport – it wastes public money, kills greyhounds. We know that majority of people are no longer in support of greyhound racing. Certainly, the majority of people don’t support public money going to greyhound racing.”

MacMahon said it appeared a greyhound had been injured on Saturday before the track being closed, but she was still awaiting a steward’s report.

Comment has been sought from Queensland Racing.

Speaking at Logan on Sunday, Premier David Crisafulli said Sports Minister Tim Mander was “going to get to the bottom” of the issues at The Q.

“Racing is an important part of the fabric of who we are as Queenslanders,” he said.

“Whether that’s any of the three codes, they’re important and the minister’s asking the right questions, and I want Queenslanders to know that we’re serious about getting to the bottom of what happened there.”