Arizona Dog Track Regulators Again Hide Information From the Public

Photo by Pima County, December 2010.

A year ago GREY2K USA discovered that the Arizona Department of Racing was keeping Daily Stewards Reports, records that document each racing performance at Tucson Greyhound Park. These records contained important information, including the number of dogs that had raced on little rest and whether official hearings had been held at the track.

Citing these records, we reported in March 2012 that it was common for dogs to race at Tucson Greyhound Park on only two days of rest. Specifically, in a single month greyhounds raced with little rest a total of 748 times at the track.

We have now learned that shortly after we reported this troubling information about dogs racing on little rest, dog track regulators changed their official Daily Stewards Report forms. Sometime between July 2012 and January 2013, the Arizona Department of Racing made the following changes:

• It stopped publicly reporting the number of dogs that had raced on only two days of rest. Instead, the new form contains a check box titled "Dogs on 2 Days Rest Approved."

• It stopped publicly reporting whether there had been a "track safety meeting" that day.

• It removed an entire section of the Daily Stewards Report titled "Racing Comments." This is where regulators had been reporting on serious greyhound falls and other race incidents.

• It stopped publicly reporting whether any official hearings had been held at Tucson Greyhound Park.

This is not the first time that Arizona track regulators have tried to hide information from the public. The Department of Racing no longer reports greyhound injuries, and has failed to fully respond to public information requests.

This state agency is out of control. It is failing its duty to act as an independent regulator, and has lost sight of the fact that it represents Arizona taxpayers, not dog track executives. For the greyhounds, change is needed at the Arizona Department of Racing.