2023 Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase Schedule Announced

Sixteen regional venues across NSW will host qualifying events in the world’s richest greyhound series - the Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase – as Greyhound Racing NSW today revealed the 2023 path to glory.

The lucrative series begins with heats at Taree on August 30 and culminates with the $1 million-to-the-winner final at Wentworth Park on October 13.

“It’s such a richly unique series in how it traverses the length and breadth of regional and rural townships in NSW – bringing the excitement of our sport far and wide into these communities – in search of the ultimate champion,” GRNSW CEO Mr Rob Macaulay said.

As the dates for heats and qualifying finals for the 2023 Ladbrokes MDC series at regional tracks were announced, GRNSW also detailed changes in this year’s build-up.

An incentive has been added to two of NSW’s Group races, after GRNSW incorporated both events into the MDC series, with all three placegetters in the Group 1 Dapto Megastar and the Group 2 Black Top also gaining semi-final berths in the MDC.

The new initiative coincides with the recently announced changes to the 2023-24 feature race calendar which now sees the Megastar move from December to September and the Black Top from October to September.

As part of the new MDC schedule, the placegetters in the Megastar Final - which will be run on September 7 - will still be allowed to compete in the Black Top at Ladbrokes Gardens, and should any of the Megastar placegetters be placed in the Black Top Final on September 22, their spot in the MDC semi-finals goes to the next finisher in the Black Top final.

While there have been some changes made to the schedule, GRNSW has not wavered from the essence of the series and a total of 16 regional venues will host races, stretching from as west as Broken Hill, north to Gunnedah, and south to Wagga Wagga, before it heads to Wentworth Park for a final round of qualifiers on Saturday, September 30, then semi-finals on Friday, October 6, and the grand final on Friday, October 13.

“The changes to the feature race schedule with the Megastar and the Black Top moving has enabled us to incorporate both those tremendously popular events into our Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase series,” Mr Macaulay said.

“We feel the scheduling - plus the added lure of an MDC semi-final berth - will see increased interest particularly from interstate in both of these group races.

“But the heart of the series is the heart of our sport in NSW and that is the regions. Over the five years since that first Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase, we have seen so many great success stories come through the regional events, and as we had hoped, the series has in turn given the people of those regional areas, the opportunity to see some of our best dogs racing on their local tracks.

“And after the impact of Covid and some scheduling experimentation, this year it was decided that the Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase will return home … back to its original timeslot of with the final to be run on Friday, October 13.”

Apart from the first three in the Megastar and the Black Top, the first, second and third placegetters in each of the other 14 regional qualifying finals will advance to the semi-finals.

Semi-final invitations will be issued to first four placegetter in the National Sprint Championship final in Melbourne on August 26, with the remaining 12 semi-final berths up for grabs in the City Qualifiers. Should the Nationals' invitees decline their invitation, then an additional spot will be available for the City Qualifiers.

"Ladbrokes was the inaugural naming rights partner of the Million Dollar Chase and it is great to have our brand again associated with a race which has become the flagship of the greyhound industry in NSW,” Ladbrokes Australia CEO Dean Shannon said.

"Racing for a million dollars is life changing and the race has helped broaden interest and engagement in the sport.

"We are really looking forward to getting behind the concept and making this year's Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase the best one yet."

The full schedule for Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase Grand Final night has also been locked in with the support races being: the Masters Meteor, the MDC Maiden, the Young Star – and consolations of each of those events and of the MDC - the Sydney Cup, and the Richmond to Wenty and Gardens to Wenty Finals.