Dapto Dogs board had secret plan to redevelop site

Bosses at Dapto Dogs were working on secret plans to redevelop the historic track into a retirement living complex, shipping container precinct or industrial park before it suddenly axed greyhound racing earlier this month.

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Bosses at Dapto Dogs were working on secret plans to redevelop the historic track into a retirement living complex, shipping container precinct or industrial park before suddenly­ axing greyhound racing earlier this month.

Documents seen by The Daily Telegraph show Dapto Agricultural and Horticultural Society decided to announce an end to racing before Greyhound Racing NSW got wind of the redevelopment plan and revealed it to “make us the villains”.

It can now be revealed the board has been considering the move for some time and for the past 12 months has been refusing new membership to greyhound owners.

Dapto trainer Cliff Bell said: “There was no promotion of racing and they kept saying greyhound racing was making a loss.”

Mr Bell said he knew of 30 greyhound participants who had applied to join the Society but were all formally rejected over the past year. Each member would have a vote on the future direction of the Society­.

“As I saw it the board simply did not want greyhound racing,” Mr Bell said.

Greyhound trainer and the last greyhound owner committee member Cliff Bell with one of his dogs Rudy at this Marshall Mount home. Picture: Jonathan Ng

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Secretly the board had drafted up a “masterplan” for the site with the three options­. The Society board hired crisis management company Wilkinson Butler to manage potential fallout from the announcement to axe greyhound racing.

A day before the Melbourne Cup, former Channel 7 sports reporter Liam Cox, who now works for Wilkinson Butler, wrote to Society chief executive Katrina Novak saying it was “better to go now”.

Mr Cox said he did not want to give Greyhound Racing NSW “the chance to embarrass” the Society or to “make us the villains”.

The announcement was met with an outcry from trainers and greyhound lovers and led to Greyhound Racing NSW appointing an administrator to run racing at the historic track.

The Society challenged the appointment in the NSW Supreme Court.

Both sides will meet in court today to resolve how that will work until the full hearing in coming months.

Comparative figures seen by The Daily Telegraph indicate­ the administration costs of greyhound racing at Dapto are double those of similar clubs at Bathurst and Bulli and other costs including insurance, accounting and utility fees are up to three times as much.

But a Dapto A & H Society spokesman said it was “misleading and deceptive” to compare Dapto’s accounts­ to other clubs.

“The greyhound trading statement showed a $275k loss,” he said.

Mr Bell with two of his dogs Bell and Mack. The board has been considering the move for some time and has refused new membership to greyhound owners for the past 12 months. Picture: Jonathan Ng

The spokesman said the master plan is “an incomplete draft” and “accordingly no preferred option has been identified”. He said it was part of a long-term evaluation of the site after the state government’s greyhound racing ban.

Greyhound Racing NSW chief executive Tony Mestrov said: “I am shocked … it’s looking and smelling a lot like a premeditated act.”