Greyhound scratched from race after program glitch

Media release
2 June 2006

Greyhound scratched from prestigious race due to program glitch

Greyhound Racing New Zealand announced today that one of the 16 greyhounds, selected for tonight's heats of their prestigious Duke of Edinburgh Silver Collar race, has been scratched and replaced with another dog due to an error in their pre-selection programming system.

Te Awamutu-based dog, Bet She Can was initially selected for a start in Heat 2 over Tirau's Thrilling Larissa, but based on the selection criteria of the Auckland Greyhound Racing Club, Thrilling Larissa should have been selected for the race, as her form, which is decided by a greyhound's placing in its most recent races, was better than that of Bet She Can, and two other starters. The computer programme failed to pick up Thrilling Larissa's recent win in a distance race at Auckland GRC.

Chief executive Lance Bickford said that the decision to scratch Bet She Can is an unfortunate one for her owners, but is the right and fair thing to do.

"The scratching of a dog, especially in a race like the Silver Collar, must be taken by the Executive, under the Rules. The decision isn't taken lightly. It can only be decided by the Board and the decision to scratch Bet She Can at 7:30am today, was made adhering to all of our rules and processes that are put in place for situations like this."

"If Thrilling Larissa's form had been programmed correctly, there would have been no question of her starting in the race. It would be unfair to exclude her and we believe this is the only decision that could be made. We apologise to those that have been disappointed by Bet She Can being scratched," he said.

Only one $25 fixed odd bet had been placed on Bet She Can and this has been refunded in full.

ENDS

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