Recently the NSW greyhound racing “regulator” GWIC issued a media release trumpeting the decline in on-track deaths.
This was described as a “landmark outcome for greyhound welfare”.
However, this PR activity raised several questions:
Should a regulator act as a booster and promoter of the industry it is supposedly regulating? Did GWIC just cherry-pick the positive data, without analysis, and ignore negative trends? Did the timing reflect ongoing problems in greyhound racing and GWIC’s attempts to steady a sinking ship?
The fallacy of "on-track" deaths
While GWIC focused on on-track deaths, it ignored the rise in dogs dying post-race from injuries. This has become a worrying trend as the industry tries to avoid scrutiny of unsafe tracks.
In their media release, GWIC ignored its own data that seven dogs died off-track in Oct-Dec 2025.
For FY25, GWIC’s data shows that off-track deaths outnumbered on-track deaths by a factor of four.
The Drake inquiry noted that while there was a decline in the number of greyhounds euthanised at the racetrack, “there has been a corresponding increase in medical euthanasia conducted off-track.”
NSW the injury leader
GWIC’s media release also ignored the fact that NSW tracks probably record the world’s worst injury rate.
The industry uses a “per 1000 starts” injury rate methodology to measure track injuries.
While this approach serves to minimise the actual number of injuries, it also allows some comparisons to be made – and NSW comes out badly.
The latest available data – from quarterly injury reports and annual reports – shows that NSW has by far the highest injury rate in Australasia. The worst three Australian states are below, along with NZ’s rate for the 24/25 racing season.
For Oct-Dec 2025 or FY25:
NSW 39.7 injuries per 1000 starts
VIC 31.57
SA 30.99
NZ 22.5
Image shows the latest post-racing death: Jet Black Cold fell at Temora on 1 April 2026, suffering foreleg fracture with a 90-day stand-down. Recorded deceased and taken off racing register on 7 April.