Hi all
Im new here and new to the sport.
I was about to buy a greyhound pup to try to train and race.
I was talking to someone and they said i should go talk to Geoff Watt as he used to be a trainer.
To my dismay he has told me a very scary story.He was aparantly sydneys top trainer many years ago and he and his father Hec Watt used to own the famous dog "Zoom Top".
He says he was run out of the sport because he wouldnt do as he was told and fix races.!!!!!!
Now im not naive evough to think every things above board allways but his story has shocked me.
He has a book on his web site Sports or Rorts? By Geoff Watt and when i read it i was amazed at the amount of corruption that he has stated in all forms of racing.

has anyone read sportsorrorts ...Is it for real...Is this guy real..
If this is for real whats the point in me buying a dog if its all fixed.

If this is real why am i wasting my time and money punting.??

It sells papers so that's why he has said that.


I don't think that's a very accurate or true picture of the modern day greyhound racing as we are only little fish compared to the horse racing.

I've been involved in the greyhound industry in all facets for over 22 years now and I would say the main problems are tall poppy syndrome (dragging people down and spreading nasty gossip) and bigger city trainers who will do anything to keep their dogs racing and winning week in and week out.

Maybe one or two cases of race fixing in a blue moon but why worry about something that is out of your control?

The main thing when buying a greyhound, is to expect failure as well as success, and take it on the chin instead of shooting the dog for being slow, no good or not winning regularly.

And if you are new to the world of rearing a pup/training, then please don't attempt it on your own without expert guidance nearby.
The best chance a pup will have, is to be placed with other pups on a well run rearing farm and fed well by experienced people.
Breaking in also should only be done by the experts, many a good pup have been ruined by inexperienced owners.


And please, DON'T talk to ex trainers that have nothing positive to say about the sport, there may be a reason why they have been run out of the game...

Talk to current trainers who are successful and willing to help out newbies with advice. They would be the ones that are more in tune with what is going on in the industry than ex trainers.

Thanks for the reply.
I was also of the same opinion as you untill i read his book, Now im not sure.
This is what he says about himself and he has newpaper cuttings and stuff to validate it.

"Our training complex was producing enormous amount of success within the industry and we were producing some real champions, champions such as Woolley Wilson, Benny McGrath, Top Saba, Top-Em-All and many others. We felt that our future within the greyhound industry was secure and that I could follow in my parent’s footsteps, how wrong we were; even in this early stage of my career people in control of the industry were working to remove us from the sport. It is this removal process that my story Sports Or Rorts is about.
My story is about the methods that I believe are used to control training facilities"
I have googled him and his family and it seems to be true so i dont know what to think.He says its a carefully covered up secret by the authoritys.

You also have to remember that it was back in the old days, many many trainers could get away with a lot of things that they wouldn't today.

The modern sport is now very strictly regulated and controlled by animal loving organisations, stamping out drugs and race fixings etc.

Hooter, I trained greyhounds in those days and knew Geoff and Hector very well. What they are telling you is fact about 40 years ago. I quit greyhound racing for the same reason you have said. Yes races were fixed and drugs were rampent. There was a royal commission or a big inquiry if you like, into greyhound racing about 20 years or so ago and a lot of people were implicated into race fixing and other things.
These days are quite different and for the betterment of the sport, and I am proud to be an owner trainer of greyhound in this current period. If you are thinking of coming back into the sport, do it, you wont regret it, I haven't.

coops

Yes that's right Coops, all back in the old days thank goodness. Remember the Jack Pringle saga? (allan pringle's father) omigod so many false breeding/dogs being switched around, race fixing, rorts, stand over men, bribery of stewards/officials etc etc but modern technology has seen a lot of them disappear.

Hey Hooter, there is dodgy people involved in many sports and infact all walks of life! Believe it or not there is even people who go onto Dog racing web sites with bullshit excuses just to promote books!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah,fair dinkum!!!!!!!!!!!

Thats right Gippy mate, and this site is renowned for it, but we end up putting shit on them and the stuff they promote. They must like it though, because they just keep coming back and we keep putting shit on them.

And what about the wierd people we get on here. This site seems to attracted all sorts of wierdo's.

coops

lol some of the weird ones are just overseas spammers, (from russia, germany, mostly from japan/beijing/china) they're hoping to flood all the websites selling their products..


Want a free iphone? lol

Unfortunately Gippy is right, there's always a few dodgy people in every industry, it's part of human life... fighting the evil forces ;-D

But on the whole if you meet some decent people in the game, you will find they have decent friends and you can make your start buying dogs/pups from those people.

Just get to know the people first over time before buying, so you don't get burnt by trusting the seemingly friendly nice people. (like I have been on quite a number of times lol I keep getting sucked in)

Keep an ear to the ground and you will find out who are the respected people etc

Im sorry you all think im some dodgey creep. Maybe im just stupid cause after hearing the story and reading the book i thought this would be the place to find out whats true and whats not.
Why i would be trying to sell his book beats the sh#t out of me.But if this is how you treat newcomers to YOUR sport then maybe theres some truth in what he says.