NSW racetracks continued to take a heavy toll on greyhounds in the first half of 2025.

Analysis of stewards reports and industry databases reveal a disturbing trend. Despite the racing industry proclaiming a fall in on-track deaths, more greyhounds are dying away from the tracks from their racing injuries, away from the public eye. Recent GWIC injury reports show a 79% increase in the number of dogs removed from the track with serious injuries and killed later.

27 dogs died in serious racing incidents in Jan-Jun 2025: nine were killed at racetracks and 18 were taken away from tracks and died later. A total of 1,942 injuries were recorded by CPG. NSW has Australia’s highest injury rate, 62 percent higher than NZ’s, where racing is being phased out.

The greyhound racing industry refuses to reveal the names and causes of deaths of the dogs dying within its system. CPG can only uncover the details for a small number of deaths; the latest “mortality” data from GWIC shows a total of 299 deaths in Jan-Mar 2025.

Racing participants continue to abuse their greyhounds with cruelty and drugs. GWIC laid 80 charges against 44 Greyhound Racing NSW participants in Jan-Jun 2025.

Racing deaths - NSW

There were nine reported on-track deaths between January and June 2025 in NSW:

Shirl’s Rocket Two-years-old, fractured leg and spine	Ramblin’ Ethics Two-years-old, fractured leg	Brocky’s Ethics Three-years-old, fractured leg
Ted Robbo Two-years-old, fractured leg and skull	Untenable One-year-old, fractured leg	Our Country Boy Two-years-old, fractured leg
Escape Panama Three-years-old, fractured leg	Billy Bush Four-years-old, fractured spine	Vodka Mother Two-years-old, fractured leg

Eight of the dogs were killed by on-track vets. The remaining dog, Ted Robbo, was “found to be deceased” after “making contact with multiple upright posts“.

An additional 18 dogs were killed away from the track after suffering serious injuries in races:

Rock Burner	Fascinate Blaze	Panama Girl
Ninja Moon	Aston Bolivar	Fascinate Dan
Blackjack Ella	Princess Josie	Zipping Hoff
One Long Day	Spring Honour	Super Jet Power
Betty Buttercup	Jemma Jayne	Glory Bound
Kingsbrae Kim	Rainbow Catley	Bad Girl Robyn

Note: GWIC data confirms an increasing number of dogs killed off-track after suffering racing injuries. In Oct-Dec 2024, 15 were noted, a record high number, with 13 noted in Jan-Mar 2025.

The chart shows an almost 80% increase in the number of off-track euthanasias following racing injuries between the first three quarters of FY24 and the first three quarters of FY25.

This is a very disturbing trend as it suggests that while less dogs are being euthanased at the track, many more seriously injured dogs are being killed away from the public eye.

The worst NSW tracks - deaths

These tracks recorded the most racing-related greyhound deaths:

Taree	5	Wagga Wagga	4	Dubbo	3	Gunnedah	3
Muswellbrook	2	Richmond	2	The Gardens	2	Casino	2

Sources: GWIC stewards reports, GRV FastTrack database, GWIC eTrac database, CPG 2025 death and injury tracking, CPG NSW off-track death register

Racing injuries - NSW

Greyhounds suffer thousands of injuries on NSW tracks every year. Bone fractures are common as are muscle injuries. Over-exertion can lead to stress-related injury and post-race collapse. The data below is just for race meetings; in FY23/24 more than 600 dogs were scratched due to injury but these aren’t recorded in official data.

Major injuries are classed as Category D, with stand-down periods of 28-90 days, while serious injuries have 60-90 day stand-downs and described as career-threatening or life-threatening.

GREYHOUND RACING INJURIES, NSW, JAN-JUN 2025

TOTAL INJURIES	MAJOR INJURIES (28-90 days stand-down)	SERIOUS INJURIES (60-90 days stand-down)
1942	460	133

Three states publish quarterly injury reports. As shown below, data from the most recent reports reveal that NSW has the highest injury rate.

Earlier this year, the New Zealand Government announced that greyhound racing would be banned in 2026 due to an “unacceptably high” injury rate. It is worth noting that injury rates reported across Australia are considerably higher than the NZ injury numbers. The 40.8% rate reported by GWIC is over 60% higher than the NZ rate.

TOTAL INJURIES BY STATE, JAN-JUN 2025

INJURIES COMPARISON

Note: The injury rate is based on the number of injuries per 1,000 starts which is the industry’s preferred method of reporting greyhound racing injuries. Injury rates are from the latest available quarterly reports provided by GWIC, Greyhound Racing SA and Queensland Racing Integrity Commission.

New Zealand injury rate is included for comparison purposes.

The worst NSW tracks - total injuries

These tracks recorded the highest total injuries:

Richmond	251	Wentworth Park	191	Grafton	160	The Gardens	132
Casino	132	Gosford	122	Dapto	118

Sources: GWIC stewards reports, CPG 2025 death and injury tracking, GWIC, QRIC & GRSA injury reports

Disciplinary action

Racing participants continued to conduct crimes against greyhounds. Animal Liberation data shows that GWIC laid 80 charges against 44 Greyhound Racing NSW participants in Jan-Jun 2025.

Doping is widespread, particularly the use of pain-masking drugs to force injured greyhounds to race, often allowing owners to collect appearance fees. One dog alone, Marcus Fire, was drugged with amphetamine, methamphetamine, 4-hydroxyamphetamine, and 4-hydroxymethamphetamine.

Participants charged included:

Jack Lowe, Shaun Hermon, Mark Davidson, Graeme Ball, Anthony Coyte, Crystal Pillar, Gary Payton, Chloe Bilal, Scott Kelly, William Knibbs, Evelyn Harris, Rodney Dennis, Mark Farrugia, Garry Sheather, Beverley Sloan, Victor Sultana, Jacob White, Shannon Ellis, Mark Newham, Janelle Stubbs, Adam King, Glen Slade, John Byrne, Blake Chapman, Larry Warren, Robert Andrews, Shane Felke, Darryl Wilson, Patricia Chaker, Raymond Lee, Troy Dunn, Kenneth Markham, David Richardson, Jeremy McGrath

Substances used included:

Substances used included: Metformin, Ethynylestradiol and 17a-Ethynyl-5ß-Estran-3a, 17ß-Diol, Theobromine, Meloxicam, 5ß Androstane-3α, Phenobarbitone, Caffeine and its metabolites Theophylline, Paraxanthine and Theobromine, Cobalt, Tapendatol, Gabapentin, Ostarine

Drugged dogs included:

Black Harada, We’ll See, One More, Intense Power, My Three Boys, Nitro Freddie, Foreign Capital, Canya Penny, Got Merit, Upper Level, Bianca’s Dream, Quick Biscuit, Kinloch Babe, Marvellous Dunn, Unacceptable Mim, Marcus Fire, Zipping Monroe

Sources: GWIC final disciplinary decisions, Animal Liberation – GWIC findings – 2025 analysis