Dog track shut as committee resigns

Manawatu greyhound racing has gone to the dogs.

All meetings at the Palmerston North track have been suspended after the committee of nine collectively resigned under a cloud of financial turmoil.

Greyhound Racing New Zealand (GRNZ) said race meetings had not been held since the committee pulled the plug three weeks ago.

All scheduled race meetings had been transferred to Whanganui.

The club was evicted from the Pioneer Highway facility yesterday, after failing to pay rent for at least 18 months.

Two independent audits concluded the club was insolvent and action had to be taken, GRNZ general manager Jim Leach told the Manawatu Standard yesterday.

"Under the rules of GRNZ we are not allowed to allow clubs to race officially if they are insolvent. It's important that if they're running race meetings they should have money to pay all the costs incurred."

Palmerston North trainer Brendon Cole said it was frustrating for owners, especially those with dogs that were particularly suited to the city track.

"You've got a million-dollar complex there that's just going to waste."

Mr Cole, 36, has trained dogs for the past 16 years.

"I've never seen a club go insolvent before in my time. I don't know whether that's bad management or what ... I've heard a lot of rumours."

GRNZ cancelled the Manawatu Greyhound Racing Club's affiliation with the New Zealand Greyhound Association last Friday, Mr Leach said.

The club can appeal the disaffiliation.

A sub-committee of three club members has been created and it planned to meet Mr Leach today on neutral ground in Levin.

"Our primary concern is to get greyhound racing back running in the Manawatu."

Mr Leach understood the committee resigned for fear of personal liability.

"If they are running while they're insolvent there is certainly a strong possibility that they could be held liable. There are debts, there's no question," Mr Leach said.

Former acting club president Bill Hodgson would not disclose the amount of debt. "I'm in no position of authority now, I'm just a club member. All that I can tell you is it's a funding issue."

But Mr Hodgson did say an eviction notice arrived yesterday morning from the Manawatu Harness Racing Club.

He said they had until 4pm to move out.

Harness vice president Martin Wrigley said the greyhound club owed "tens of thousands" in rent money. "Despite being owed a substantial sum of money we don't hold any animosity towards the Manawatu Greyhound Racing Club people, but this is really an unfortunate decision that has been forced upon us and that's the way that we look at it."

He said the demise of the greyhound club was another blow to an already struggling industry.

"Like us they battle and they do rely on a very large pool of volunteers just as we do. We do hope that for the racing fraternity there is a resolution to the problem."

- © Fairfax NZ News