Holloway calls on Central Park to re-introduce Hurdle Racing nearly six months since Crayford closure

Holloway calls on Central Park to re-introduce Hurdle Racing 

Former leading Hurdle trainer Ricky Holloway calls on Central Park to re-introduce hurdle racing in an attempt to boost their shortage of numbers, which in turn, will result greyhounds prolonging their careers instead of adding to the current homing situation.

Tomorrow marks the six month anniversary of the last greyhound meeting to be held at Crayford Stadium. When the doors closed for the last time at the Kent circuit on January 19th, trainers and greyhounds moved on to pastures new, as did the staff, many of them onto better things, but unfortunately, one aspect of greyhound racing remains locked behind the boarded up doors.

Razldazl Barkley (below)  got the better of kennelmate Magical Oscar by a head to land the Crayford Stadium Staff Farewell Stakes over 540m for Ricky Holloway. Not only was that the final hurdle race to be staged at Crayford, but it was also the final hurdle race to be staged in the UK as Crayford were the only track in the country keeping the hurdle racing flag flying.   

Holloway, who trained the GBGB Hurdler Of The Year for eight years in a row, dominated the hurdles scene in the same way as Willie Mullins dominates jumps racing in Ireland and at the Cheltenham Festival and would have been hit hardest by the closure of Crayford due to the number of runners in his kennel who would appear in hurdles action each week. 

Yes hurdles action can divide opinions and can be seen as the marmite of greyhound racing. Some people like it and some don’t, each to their own as it’s purely a matter of individual tastes and is similar to horse racing. Some people would much prefer watching the flat racing at Royal Ascot as opposed to watching the Cheltenham Festival, and some would prefer the reverse. 

Star Pelaw to bring back hurdle racing

But there may be some light at the end of the tunnel for fans of hurdles racing, of whom there are plenty, as Star Pelaw plan to reintroduce hurdle racing again having taken delivery of the hurdles used at Crayford, and are currently waiting for the last pieces to be made and fitted at the track, something which is expected to take only a matter of weeks.

Speaking to Holloway earlier this week, he spoke about supporting Star Pelaw when their hurdles are good to go, and called on Central Park to re-introduce hurdle racing, not only to provide extra runners at a time where the Kent track have been reducing their number of races, but to also help with the ongoing homing issues in the industry, giving greyhounds a chance to prolong their careers instead of having to be homed.

He said “Hurdling will be coming back. Star Pelaw have ordered the final parts for the old Crayford hurdles and should be arriving at the track in the next few weeks. I’d go up to Star Pelaw. I’d do anything to get hurdle racing off the ground again. I’ve already said to Kim Sanzone at Star Pelaw I’d come there and support them when they are good to go"

 "Hopefully Central Park, who are so short of dogs at the track at present and have hurdles at the track just sitting there, will realise that they could have a whole new catchment of racers if they re-introduced hurdle racing again"

"There are four trainers at Central Park who used to have hurdlers at Crayford plus the trainers at Central Park who have had hurdlers themselves in the past. It would be very competitive as you’ve got Barry O’Sullivan, Julie Luckhurst and Nick Carter, who are well established hurdle trainers who would supply the track again."

"I could supply them with 20 dogs for hurdling alone. It’s a no brainer for Central Park, they’ve got the hurdles at the track just sitting there doing nothing"

The need for more competition over hurdles

I then asked Holloway if he thought that people may have been put off schooling their own greyhounds over the hurdles as they didn't think they would be able to beat him, and would he school other trainers greyhounds over the hurdles to help provide some competition.

"I don’t just school runners for myself, in the past I’ve schooled hurdlers for Mark Wallis, Seamus Cahill and plenty of others. They can leave them here for a month, and after that they can have them back and they are good to go. That’s all it takes, a month"

"I don’t mind the competition. I love to thrive on the competition as it brings out my competitive side. As I said earlier, I don’t mind schooling them for anyone and I’d still take them in and school a quirky dog.. A lot of people won’t realise but I’m still schooling hurdlers. Micky’s Tribute is flying over the hurdles and look what he is doing at Hove, he’s up against some of the best sprinters in the country, but he’s become the finished article over hurdles now"

"I hope it gets re-introduced there. We need a racing manager or a general manager to wake up and realise that when greyhounds are currently disqualified, that they are adding to the homing issues. Hurdle racing is much safer for greyhounds as there are less injuries as they are going slower into the bends and it can prolong their careers as they can keep going until they are five at least"

Holloway continued "Jamie Mavrias, who works for his father Mick, he can fix the wings and do anything to the hurdles that needs doing. I’ve got sets of hurdles here and I don’t understand why they don’t do it, they are short of dogs. Don’t forget they used to have sprint graded hurdle racing as well as the four bend hurdle racing. It gives variety to their card as all they seem to put on at the moment are sprints so why not break the card up"

"That’s why I can’t understand why Central Park aren’t running hurdle racing at the moment when they’ve got it on their doorstep. I can provide 20 a week, 80-100 a month and it would help fill their shortage, it’s a no brainer. I'm sure TRP don’t want constant five dog races and sprints filing the majority of their cards and they are obviously struggling with numbers as they have had to cut some of their meetings down to ten races"

" I call upon TRP to put the pressure on them as well to provide entertainment for the public. They are putting out a programme and it’s boring!

There would also be sponsorship for the Grand National, Champion Hurdle and the Springbok and at the moment, it's just going wasted. That’s £30,000 of sponsorship just sitting there going to waste and no one Is doing anything about it. Roger Cearns would put the money up and it's not a case of wanting to win his own money back, he has a genuine love of hurdle racing and would just like to see it returning"

"All it needs is someone with balls, one of these promoters instead of sitting back and doing nothing,  to do what they are actually there for and promote. Who in the Greyhound industry apart from Greyhound Racing UK are actually promoting the sport?"

Will hurdle racing return at an Entain track?

Romford and more recently, Hove, are two tracks owned by Entain who have held hurdle races in the past and i asked Holloway if he thought could be possible that either of those tracks could stage hurdle racing again down the line

He said " Paul Illingworth has also said that if another track takes up hurdle racing that he will then start and he quoted that to me yesterday (Monday) but I’m very disappointed with Entain. They have been promoting their homing campaign of late, but there will be greyhounds on their homing list who have been disqualified that wouldn’t need to be homed if they brought back hurdle racing at one of their tracks" 

"There are plenty of dogs on the flat who run at a good standard but aren’t quite good enough to win a Category One or a Category Two on the flat, but if they go over the hurdles, they could find themselves winning that Category One title, and the money on offer is good"

"The thing is as well, currently, if you see a Greyhound in a race or trial anywhere and you think that they may have a fight, or aren’t genuine, what options are there for owners or trainers? You either carry on and hope that they straighten out again or they end up being retired which then just adds another greyhound to the homing situation,  but if there was the option of being sent hurdling, it could straighten the greyhound out and help to prolong their career"

 "It’s ridiculous, it’s cutting short the sport. You’re taking away from the spectators who love watching hurdles racing. You could go to Crayford, Central Park, Towcester, or any other track that used to run hurdle racing and the crowds would love it, especially at Crayford on the terraces being so close to the hurdles watching the greyhounds jumping over"

Hurdle racing can reduce the homing and injury statistics

"Bringing back hurdle racing would also help reduce the homing situation and the injury situation, which is statistically better than that of the flat. There’s no excuse for a track to have hurdles just sitting there doing nothing when there’s sponsorship worth £30,000 for three Category One competitions which they could have back again"

" Roger Cearns has the rights to all three of those competitions and he would give them to Central Park and sponsor them himself. Those three competitions used to be run there and they should be screaming out for them to come back again. Even Towcester have had hurdle racing and I’d love for them to re-introduce it again. I’d love Mike Davis to get back into hurdle racing again as he used to own hurdlers with Jason Foster years ago"

"Who turns down sponsorship and who turns down extra dogs? Who wants to be branded the home of sprinting, which is what Central Park were described as on the tv last week. Central Park used to be known as the home of hurdling and can be again with three Category One’s."

 "All it needs is someone with balls, one of these promoters instead of sitting back and doing nothing to do what they are actually there for and promote. Who in the Greyhound industry apart from Greyhound Racing UK are actually promoting the sport?"

Hurdle racing can prolong the careers of greyhounds

There is certainly a case that hurdle racing can prolong the career of a greyhound. Holloway was keen to mention a greyhound still racing today called Magical Oscar

"Magical Oscar was marked awkward early in his career at Towcester in his fourth race which was a top grade contest whilst as a puppy, three months away from turning two.  He’s now had 127 races, mostly over the hurdles. He’s now back on the flat at Hove and not done a thing wrong. He’s five years of age and not done a thing wrong since and hurdle racing straightened him out" 

"It’s what it would do for a lot of dogs now instead of just putting them on the retired list. If we were in that situation again now, then there is every chance that he would have been retired and missed out on three years of racing and he’s been in three Category One finals"

"A lot of people now will think that if their dog is awkward or has the potential of having a fight, then they will be best off retiring them as there is no option left for them. Or a new owner comes along, buys a dog and it has a fight, then there’s nothing left for them. They’ve lost their money and might not want to buy another one again as there’s no option. It can give the smaller owner a chance to win big"

"Barry O’Sullivan had Nunhead Shiv who won the 2024 Champion Hurdle at nearly five years of age. She had been disqualified at Hove a couple of years previously, went to Crayford over the hurdles and won a £10,000 Category One competition. Those types of greyhounds now aren’t given the chance to prolong their careers and are adding to the homing issues" 

I contacted ARC and asked them if there were any plans to re-introduce hurdle racing back at Central Park. The response was a simple one. A spokesperson said " We have no plans to re-introduce hurdle racing at the moment"