ANOTHER week, another scandal from the “jewel in the crown” of greyhound racing, with Q2 Parklands leaving trainers furious after Thursday night’s meeting was abruptly abandoned.
Without warning, the 10-race card was axed as trainers were walking their chasers to the starting boxes ahead of race one – sparking immediate backlash from participants who say they are once again bearing the brunt of operational failures.
Leading trainer Casey Dargusch didn’t hold back.
“It is actually beyond laughable now,” she said. “Trainers, as always, are the ones penalised. We are held to the highest standards, yet those running the show seem immune.”
The financial sting is immediate, with Dargusch saying compensation tied to abandoned meetings barely covers basic costs.
“The money we’ll get paid from this abandoned meet will barely cover fuel costs,” he said.
“Not to mention our dogs have now gone without a run,” she said.
“We’ll all be scrambling to find somewhere else to give them a hit-out.”
But beyond the short-term hit, the disruption is already derailing carefully planned preparation cycles – particularly for greyhounds being set for feature races.
“Our bitch needed the run to build towards feature distance races in six weeks. That now looks very unlikely – through no fault of ours or the dogs. And I’m sure we’re not alone.”
Dargusch also took aim at broader priorities, urging Racing Queensland to shift its focus away from marquee events and towards fixing infrastructure issues at the troubled venue.
“It’s time Racing Queensland got rid of the million-dollar race in the Winter Carnival and invested it into the so-called state-of-the-art complex we were promised, which has failed on so many levels,” she said. “I think trainers have been more than patient.”
Fellow trainer Steve Neary echoed the frustration, pointing to a lack of accountability and the wider financial implications for the industry.
“It seems nobody is accountable for anything at The Q,” he said.
“We just keep losing meetings – and turnover – which ultimately governs prize money for the entire industry.”
A day after the abandonment, the Queensland Greyhound Racing Club confirmed the meeting had been abandoned after sections of the track were deemed unsafe due to excessive moisture in parts of the surface.
Chair David Nugent said while the decision was disappointing, steps are being taken to prevent repeat incidents, although the cause of the “excessive moisture” could not be explained.
“We carry out regular and frequent maintenance but this sand profile continues to be incredibly sensitive to even the slightest change in conditions,” he said.
“I think we have work to do with the stewards on providing more time and consideration of more options before calling the whole meeting off.”
