Newcastle To Host The Richest Staying Race In The World - The 715

By GRNSW
Newcastle will be the host of the world’s richest greyhound staying race after Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW) announced a new feature event where the winner will collect $500,000.

The event, to be known as ‘The 715’, will be run for the first time in June 2022 at LADBROKES GARDENS over the 715m distance. 

The announcement completes a unique set for GRNSW which now has the world richest greyhound race, the $1 million to the winner TAB Million Dollar Chase, the world’s richest middle-distance event, the recently announced $125,000 to the winner Country Classic, and now the richest staying race in the world.

“This is another tremendous announcement for the industry in NSW and its participants and something we have been working on for some time following the success of the Million Dollar Chase,” GRNSW Chief Executive Officer Tony Mestrov said.

“We all know that around 75 per cent of our participants are regionally based, and that was a key factor in our decision to stage this race at The Gardens, and not at the City track, Wentworth Park.

“With the Hunter Valley being a heartland for greyhound racing, we felt the region and its people were the perfect fit for an event of this stature.

“The Million Dollar Chase has become the premier event for sprinters not only in NSW, but across the country, and we see this race complementing that event as a showcase race on our calendar, this time catering for the stayers.

“We identified a real void in the NSW staying ranks a few years back and decided to make a concerted effort to build those ranks and make it viable for owners and trainers to race stayers in NSW. 

“The introduction of the GRNSW Middle Distance Series events was for the purpose of providing a stepping stone for those dogs moving from the sprinting ranks, but not ready to step straight up to the 700m races.

“That series has been a wonderful success and it was because of that success that we announced the new regional event, the Country Classic which will be run at Dubbo Next year in March.

Next we wanted to look after our stayers, and with this new event, The 715, we feel we have now made it very enticing for owners and trainers to look for staying dogs to race.”

The 715 is just another key feature of what will be an incredible three months of racing in NSW, from the Country Classic in March, the Ladbrokes Golden Easter Egg in April, the postponed 2020 TAB Million Dollar Chase in May, then The 715 in June.

Why wouldn’t you want to get involved in greyhound racing in NSW?” Mr Mestrov said.

“The 715 will slot into the calendar in June, but just for 2022 because of the postponed Million Dollar Chase. In the following years it will move to a permanent slot in the calendar of April-May, and will expand from a two-week series in 2022, to a three-week series in the following editions. 

The $500,000 first prizemoney sees The 715 join the Melbourne Cup as the third richest event in Australian greyhound racing, behind only the TAB Million Dollar Chase, and Next week’s $750,000 to the winner TAB Phoenix in Melbourne.