When Greyhound Racing NSW Chief Executive Tony Mestrov embarked on his roadshow to meet the participants around the State back in January, the first stop was Bathurst. He asked those in attendance at the time to be patient, as there were exciting plans for the future.
He returned yesterday to the Central West with one of those exciting initiatives about to come to fruition.
On Monday night at the Bathurst club, the GRNSW + Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase, the world’s richest greyhound event, will get underway with four Regional Qualifying heats to be staged.
“It is exciting and I remember on the roadshow I came here first and I said then we are going to put through some exciting initiatives, so please be patient,” Mestrov recalled. “To come back here today to announce the launch of the GRNSW + Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase, it’s a pretty proud day.
“To come back and say we’ve got a really good concept and the industry has something to be proud of, is a truly great thing.
“I know over the last two years the industry hasn’t had that much to be proud of with a lot of negativity, so it’s exciting to see a smile back on the faces of people, and to hear them talking about where they are taking their dogs, and where they can go to get into the semi-finals, there is that genuine excitement.
“They have had tough times, and now hopefully there are some good times ahead.”
The NSW Minister for Racing Paul Toole, the local member, was also on hand to officially launch the series at Bathurst.
“There has been a lot of changes and as the Minister I’m committed to making sure this is an industry that is sustainable, an industry that is viable, and we have been working very hard alongside Greyhound Racing NSW to actually create a brand new series, and by having a brand new series, what we are doing is driving activity in local community,” Toole said.
The Government received some backlash when it was announced they would be finding $500,000 towards the new race series, but the Minister said he felt it was money well spent.
“There are always going to be some people who are not going to be happy about money going into the industry, I actually say it’s $500,000 being well spent,” he explained. “This is $500,000 that is seeing 22 events (11 venues hosting heats and finals) happening in regional NSW, so this is a boost to a lot of those regional towns and those regional communities, and when you have a look at some of those communities which are suffering from drought at the moment, to actually bring visitors to those communities is going to be a huge injection into those local economies.”
While the series has been several months in the planning, Mestrov conceded it was great that it has finally arrived.
“It’s pretty exciting that Monday is the start, and I’m very happy for the club that they have the first opportunity to host,” he said.
“There is a host of really good dogs coming on Monday ... Miss Splendamiro and Falcon’s Fury, the last two winners of the Bathurst Cup, and Sky Wave the NSW representative in the Nationals Sprint Championships to name just a few.
“It’s finally here, the club here is excited, and part of the strategy of this race series was to bring excitement back to the region, and it’s duly done that.
”It’s all about bringing economic benefits to the local area, but also importantly, economic benefits to the club and revenue on those two race days.
“And there is a real focus on welfare. We want to raise a $1 million for the Greyhounds As Pets program and show how serious we are about welfare at GRNSW.”
