Some New Additions To TAB Million Dollar Chase Schedule

A $10,000 prize, a trophy and a 1100km trip to Wentworth Park awaits the winner of this year’s Broken Hill Cup, with Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW) announcing today the unique bonus attached to the event.

To coincide with the first time the Broken Hill club has been granted TAB status - for their Cup heats on April 3 and the final on April 10 - GRNSW has decided that the winner of the Broken Hill Cup will be given direct entry into the semi-finals of the TAB Million Dollar Chase (MDC).

In the MDC semi-finals on April 29, the Broken Hill Cup winner will be just one win away from a shot at $1 million in the world’s richest greyhound event, the TAB Million Dollar Chase grand final, to be held at Wentworth Park on May 7.

Another new addition to the TAB Million Dollar Chase schedule, which was released on Thursday morning, was that the winner of the $250,000 Ladbrokes Golden Easter Egg Final - to be held at Wentworth Park on April 9 - will also get a ticket straight to the MDC semi-finals, giving that greyhound a great opportunity to collect $1.25 million in the space of four weeks.

The May 7 event will be the first of two Million Dollar Chase grand finals held in 2022, having been postponed from 2021. In September this year, GRNSW will stage another Million Dollar Chase in the event’s regular calendar slot.

“This is the biggest year of racing we have ever seen in this country,” GRNSW Chief Executive Officer Tony Mestrov said. “In 2022 we have two Million Dollar Chase events, the world’s richest staying event, The 715m, at Newcastle in June, and next month the world’s richest middle-distance race, the Country Classic will be held in Dubbo.

“Back in 2020 when we last staged the Million Dollar Chase, we introduced tickets into the semi-finals for the winners of the respective State Sprint Championships around the country. This proved very successful with two of those Sprint champions - Tommy Shelby (WA) and Shadow Mist (SA) - reaching the MDC Grand Final.

“Again this year we have spots for the eight (8) dogs that won their respective State Sprint titles, but we also decided to do something a bit unique this year with the semi-final ticket for the Broken Hill Cup winner and the Golden Easter Egg winner.

“The Broken Hill Cup decision continues our concerted effort to support racing in regional NSW where the majority of our participants are based, it rewards the club for their continued hard work and will hopefully see them attract their best Cup line-up ever. And it’s a nice carrot to dangle for those country trainers who may want to travel to Broken Hill, and also those from South Australia.”

Once again in 2022 the focus of the series will be on regional NSW, with heats and finals to be held at a record 16 regional venues this year.

Casino, Gunnedah and Dapto will kickstart the series on March 31, followed by Goulburn, Temora, Nowra, Bulli, Dubbo, Wagga Wagga, Grafton, The Gardens, Richmond, Bathurst, Maitland, and then culminating with Lismore and Gosford finals on April 19. The first three in each Regional Final will advance to the semi-finals.

Six city qualifying races will then be held at Wentworth Park on April 23 to determine the final places among the 64 qualifiers, before eight semi-finals are run on April 29 with winners advancing for their shot at the $1 million on May 7.