Cranbourne greyhound track closes in wake of dog death while Greyhound Racing Victoria & Sky Racing hide footage of incident

Racing equipment malfunctions, one dog is killed and four others are injured in a single race at Cranbourne—now gambling industry players are hiding the video footage

(Source: Cranbourne Greyhound Racing Club via Facebook)

Dog racing at the Cranbourne Greyhound Racing Club has been suspended after a disastrous race over the weekend in which one greyhound was killed, four greyhounds were injured and racetrack equipment failed. The incidents at Cranbourne took place during the fourth race of the day at a greyhound racing meet on Saturday, January 8.

Racing authorities reported that the mechanical lure—which is operated by racetrack staff to entice greyhounds to chase around the track—broke down, but are yet to publicly clarify whether this played a role in causing harm to any of the dogs in the race, or whether the cause of the failure was mechanical in nature or due to human error.

Greyhound Racing Victoria announced the day after the race that the Cranbourne greyhound track would be “closed until further notice” and that “racing and trialling is currently suspended”, without providing further explanation.

As part of their response to the equipment malfunction and greyhound death, Greyhound Racing Victoria are refusing to publish footage of the race in which the incident occurred. Sky Racing—the broadcaster that airs animal racing in Australia, owned by the gambling behemoth that profits from greyhound racing, Tab Corp—has also refused to publish footage of the race.

The young greyhound that died was a 3-year-old male, assigned the racing name of ‘Krakatoa’. He was owned by a gambling syndicate named ‘Hawks and Tigers’, and had been shifted between three trainers in Victoria: Maxwell Williams, Ian Hopper and Dennis Langley.

The only public record of Race 4 at Cranbourne published by Victorian racing authorities to date is a vaguely-written racing stewards report that disguises the details of what happened to each of the five greyhounds affected. In the report, Greyhound Racing Victoria writes that the race was abandoned ‘due to the lure breaking down on the third turn’, before stating that ‘following an on-track collision’, the greyhound Krakatoa was ‘pronounced deceased by the On-Track Veterinarian, which will be the subject of further investigation.’

The details of what it was that Krakatoa collided with to cause his instantaneous death mid-race were omitted, as was any clarification of what damage to other greyhounds—if any—the racing equipment breakdown caused.

The stewards report on Race 4 at Cranbourne Racetrack on January 8, 2022. [Source: Greyhound Racing Victoria]

During racing, it is not unusual for greyhounds to collide with each other and racetrack railings—with the exact nature of the collision sometimes mentioned in race reports—which at high sprinting speeds, can lead to injury and subsequent euthanasia, or an instant death.

Greyhound Racing Victoria continued on to list injuries to four other greyhounds, including a ‘head laceration’, ‘possible nasal bone/septum fracture’ and ‘carpal sprain’, without clarifying what incidents had preceded those injuries or whether they might have been linked to the aforementioned collision or lure malfunction.

Minimising injuries to dogs in steward’s reports in order to avoid negative publicity and hiding footage of racing injuries to dogs continues to occur regularly within Australian greyhound racing, despite the practice being exposed to the public during the McHugh Commission in New South Wales in 2016.

Greyhound Racing Victoria has been contacted for comment, though their ‘Manager of Strategic Communications’ Ian Haberfield—a former Murdoch journalist and crime reporter—has answered previous questions from this journalist with only: “I’m not talking to you.”

The Victorian Government’s Minister for Racing, Martin Pakula, has been contacted for comment.

Krakatoa is already the second greyhound to die at a Victorian racetrack this year. A 2-year-old dog was killed on January 4 after suffering a leg fracture at the Sale racetrack last week.