It was only last week that the Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club had hosted a successful Mount Gambier Cup meeting at Tara Raceway. On the same day it had received the news that from July 1 there would be a considerable prizemoney increase for its Sunday meetings.

Yesterday, staff and participants were greeted with the news when arriving at the track that the Anzac Day meeting had been abandoned after the club’s veterinary surgeon had taken ill early that morning.

Frantic last minute efforts on the part of Greyhound Racing SA and MGGRC Club Manager Barry Shepheard to find a stand-in veterinary surgeon for the meeting were all to no avail.

And with the first race scheduled for 10.54, many participants would have taken off at some ungodly hour, prior to making the hundreds of kilometres round trip to Mount Gambier and back home with their greyhounds.

It has to be said that the appointment of a specialist greyhound veterinary surgeon at Mount Gambier’s race meetings on Thursday and Sunday afternoons has worked really well.

It also has to be said that some veterinary practices in the region are well-served by the greyhound racing industry. As such, surely a contingency plan could be devised to cover the rare occasions the club’s race day veterinary surgeon is unavailable.

“Due to travel requirements and the lateness of the abandonment of the meeting, GRSA will pay the prize money split between the runners, including trainers’ fees,” a spokesperson said.

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