Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW) can announce today that the TAB Million Dollar Chase, the world’s richest greyhound race, will have a change of date in 2021.
The series, which will again wind its way across the State in a build-up to semi-finals at Wentworth Park, and culminate with a $1 million prize to the Grand Final winner, will commence three weeks earlier than previous years, with the opening regional heats to be run on August 8 at Temora.
The Grand Final will be held at Wentworth Park on Saturday, September 25.
Now in its fourth year, the TAB Million Dollar Chase will continue its strong focus on regional venues, with another country track being added to the schedule this year.
The soon to be opened, state of the art Grafton racetrack will host heats on August 29 and its final a week later, bringing to a total of 16 regional events in 2021, one more than last year, two more than 2019 and an extra five regional venues compared with the original 11 in the Million Dollar Chase’s inaugural year, 2018.
The 15 clubs which hosted regional heats and finals in 2020, will again host in 2021, with the regional events concluding with the Maitland Final on September 6.
All three placegetters from the 16 regional finals will advance to the semi-finals of the TAB Million Dollar Chase scheduled to be run at Wentworth Park on September 17, with many local and interstate trainers again expected to use that avenue to try to qualify for the semi-finals.
In 2019, seven of the eight grand finalists, including the eventual winner Good Odds Harada (Bathurst), came through the regional events, while in 2020, half of the field in the Grand Final qualified for the semi-finals through the regional series.
Nine City Preludes - which provided the Grand Finals winners in 2018 (Mystic Riot) and 2020 (Handsome Prince) - will be run at Wentworth Park on September 11, with winners only progressing to the semi-finals.
As the case was in 2020, the final seven semi-finalists will be made up of the winners of the State Sprint Championships which will be held around the country on August 12, as well as the winner of the New Zealand Sprint Championship.
The eight winners of the semi-finals will race for the $1 million first prize on September 25, a night where more than $1.6 million in prizemoney will be on offer.
While the schedule for the 2021 TAB Million Dollar Chase is being released today, in coming weeks GRNSW will be making further significant and exciting announcements around the sport’s premier event.
