The feature event, which began in 2006, was named in honour of long-time Daily Telegraph greyhound writer Jeff Collerson.

The event is the Consolation for the Group 1 Paws Of Thunder staged in January each year.

The 2020 Collerson was won by Seal The Deal, trained in Victoria by Anthony Azzopardi, who was enjoying a stunning run of success at the time, highlighted by his Melbourne Cup win with Whiskey Riot two months earlier. Seal The Deal defeated Million Dollar Chase champion Good Odds Harada. 

In 2021, The Collerson attracted Australian Greyhound Of The Year, Victorian star Simon Told Helen, but the favourite was unable to break his Wentworth Park maiden in what would be his final run before retirement.

A deserved victory went to the ultra-consistent, Michael Eberand-trained Ebby Infrared.

Zipping Kyrgios was expected to be one of leading contenders in the 2022 Group 1 Paws of Thunder having opened the year with a win in the Group 2 Gosford Gold Cup, but a disappointing performance in the heats saw him miss the Paws' final.

He returned a week later back to his best and chased down and produced a stunning effort to chase down Victorian Qwara Bale and score in 29.60s in the Paws' consolation, The Collerson.

In what was a pretty open 2023 event, the Ronny Asquith-trained Scramjet took out The Collerson at double figure odds.

The daughter of Aston Dee Bee and Ragadeen had the beautiful Box 1 draw in the race and made the most of it in the early stages by holding out the speedy Yuko Girl and finding the front at the first bend.

A bit of commotion back in the field allowed Scramjet to surge away down the back, with the chaser holding off a fast finishing Yuko Girl for the biggest win of her career.

Ibrox Wildfire was back in third for Billy Dance in what was a very memorable edition of The Collerson.

The 86-year-old Asquith described the win as one of the highlights of his career.

Asquith's son Graham said: "Dad has trained greyhounds since he was 17 or 18 but he is especially thrilled to win this race.''

Scramjet was off the scene from early October until mid-December but her trainer said: "There was nothing wrong with her, I just felt she needed a break from racing.

"And I believe that rest has enabled her to come back better than ever.''

In 2024, Peter Lagogiane, who trained the 2018 Million Dollar Chase winner Mystic Riot for Colin Bermingham, landed the listed The Collerson with Nad Al Sheba, who was chased all the way by runner-up Embrace.

After Nad Al Sheba's win, Lagogiane said: "That race has always been on my bucket list.''