Greyhound of the Year candidates have been announced
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Four of the superstars of NSW greyhound racing, and the standout performers of 2022, have been announced as the finalists for the prestigious NSW Greyhound of the Year award.
In alphabetical order the quartet are: Good Odds Cash, She's A Pearl, Super Estrella, and Zipping Kyrgios.
The Frank Hurst-trained Good Odds Cash won the Group 1 National Sprint Championship, the Group 2 Maitland Cup and the Group 2 Richmond Oaks, as well as finishing second in the Group 1 Golden Easter Egg.
She's A Pearl, trained by Jodie Lord, who took out the year's two big races - the Million Dollar Chase and the Group 1 Golden Easter Egg Final - became the highest earner in greyhound racing history. At one point She's A Pearl also won 13 straight races and won 16 of her 20 NSW starts in 2022.
Super Estrella was acknowledged as one of the premier stayers in the country during 2022. David Smith's bitch won the Group 1 National Distance Championship, and the Group 2 Sydney Cup and 13 of her 20 NSW starts.
And John Finn's Zipping Kyrgios was a prolific big race finalist and won the Group 2 Gosford Cup, and the inaugural Country Classic, the world's richest middle distance race, run last March at Dubbo.
Winners of all awards including leading trainer, sire and dam, will be announced at a gala function later this year.
MDC date
GRNSW has announced that this year's Million Dollar Chase (MDC) grand final - worth $1 million to the winner - will be run at Wentworth Park on Friday, October 13, the night before Racing NSW's premier event, The Everest.
The MDC is the world's richest open entry greyhound race and the culmination of a series that will this year offer prize money of more than $2 million in total.
The series will continue in the same format it has had since its inception, with heats and finals being conducted around NSW at numerous regional tracks, with qualifiers heading to Wentworth Park for the semi-finals. The city venue will also host qualifying races, with eventually the eight semi-final winners advancing to the Grand Final.
Trial success
Late last year GRNSW commenced a trial of city midweek prize money meetings at its five one-turn racetracks. The trial arose from a meeting of participants, stakeholders and GRNSW representatives in October around best options and avenues for distributing additional prize money.
The four-month trial has seen the added prize money distributed at GRNSW's five one-turn tracks - Maitland, Goulburn, Temora, Grafton and Bulli. Already 13 meetings have had the additional prize money, with a further seven planned to complete the trial. All clubs have seen a significant uptake in nominations for those meetings.
GRNSW will assess the results of the trial before deciding on its future.
This article was produced as part of an ACM partnership with Greyhound Racing NSW.
