NEARLY three months after the greyhound industry was rocked by the live-baiting scandal, it is getting back to normal in the Hawkesbury say local officials.
Despite this, the fallout from ABC’s Four Corners program, which revealed live-baiting was occurring within the industry are still being felt.
Londonderry trainer Zeke Kadir was one of the trainers caught on film engaging in the practice and has been suspended by Greyhound Racing NSW.
In April, Kadir refused to answer a number of questions asked of him by a Greyhound Racing NSW panel investigating the allegations.
Last week, Greyhound Racing NSW announced it would cut 10 per cent of the prize money for group races from July 1 and put it toward a newly established welfare and integrity fund.
Richmond Race Club General manger Wayne Billett believes the industry has ridden the wave, and things will slowly return to normal in the coming months.
He said the decision to cut prize money was an equitable way to raise money for the fund.
‘‘There will be an impact on the prize money and they have decided to target that because it probably won’t affect a lot of the industry,’’ he said.
‘‘Hopefully there will be no further reductions in prize money.’’ Mr Billett said the club, which hosted a group 3 race on the weekend, had taken a hit in the number of people who came to the track to watch races, since the headlines about live-baiting had broken in February.
‘‘The club probably took a bit of a hit in revenue when it happened, and with the bad publicity I suppose not as many people were coming to the track as normal,’’ he said.
‘‘What people have to understand is that in NSW there were nine or 10 people out of thousands of participants who were involved.
‘‘It made everyone guilty by association, but those who have done the wrong thing will receive their punishment and the good people will get on with their business.’’
Mr Billett said the special commission into greyhound racing, which began recently, would help to pave the way forward for the sport.
‘‘It will be a far ranging report and I think one of the most crucial in our sport’s history,’’ he said.
‘‘They will look at the model and look at how it can be improved. In any walk of life you can always improve anything that you do.
‘‘What the commission is about it is about working out whether the model we have in place is suitable for our sport because of what has happened.’’
The inquiry will stop accepting submissions on June 24.