Caption: Mary Burman, left, and Erin Cameron with Blue Hornet after victory in the QGOLD Emerging Stayers final in December. That first QGOLD features night, which will be replicated on May 25, was a major success. Blue Hornet has also gone on to more success at Albion Park and Ipswich. (Photo: Box 1 Photography)

By Brisbane Greyhound Club CEO LUKE GATEHOUSE

The 2023 Queensland Winter Greyhound Racing Carnival program has just been released and it is outstanding.

The number of events, variety of events and the prizemoney is amazing. Of course the centre-piece is the Group 1 Brisbane Cup, which will boast this state’s first ever $1million in stakes, but it is just one of the highlights.

Our club is extremely proud to be the focus of this carnival.

As I have often said, we pride ourselves in the quality of the ‘customer service’ that we provide several times a week, 52 weeks a year.

We believe that what we deliver at just a regular weekly meeting is as good as on a feature night. However, there is no doubt that we love it when the big nights and the big names arrive.

We are in the entertainment business and there is nothing better than when the spotlight is at its brightest.

I am looking forward to all aspects of the Winter Carnival, but I have an early favourite, the QGOLD Finals night on May 25.

The heats of these events begin as early as May 17, and this is when the Winter Carnival actually begins.

For me, we could not have a better start to our biggest and best carnival than with the headlights fairly and squarely on the locals.

And that is what QGOLD is all about – Queensland-bred greyhounds.

The QGOLD concept started at the Golden Greys Summer Carnival and was an incredible success. The same will apply this winter.

On finals night, May 25, there will be nine finals. The prizemoney for each these events ranges from $20,100 to $40,200. The total prizemoney is a staggering $245,600.

That money is a great reward for those who have invested in breeding locally.

What I also like about this night is the variety of events – the distances, class and age categories mean that basically every greyhound bred in Queensland is eligible for one of these races.

There was certainly a special atmosphere on QGOLD night in December. It was new and it heralded the start of the Summer Carnival, but there was something else in the air that night. There was a special spirit, a camaraderie in celebrating the Queensland heart of greyhound racing.

What the Winter Carnival will also highlight is the amount of amazing young talent we have in this state. I saw it emerging during and after the Summer Carnival and that stock of young talent is certainly to the fore now.

I see it, especially every Thursday night at The Creek. And I see more and more of our young talent heading south to test their ability at the numerous major events that are now occurring regularly across the nation.

What I am also looking forward to during the winter carnival is celebrating the quality of the females in the industry in Queensland, on and off the track. The recent Winged Runner stood that aspect out.

In previous years we have staged just a final for this bitches-only feature, but this year it attracted three quality heats.

These heats and the final showcased the amazing depth of talent we have in our female ranks.

The final was taken out by Black Magic Rose for Fred and Frances Swain. Also on the podium were two of our top female trainers, who are on different ends of the experience spectrum – exciting youngster Jemma Daley (trainer of the second-placed Hara’s Pandora) and Queensland industry matriarch Cyndie Elson (third-placed Special Cyndie).

No doubt we will see much more from many of our female trainers and chasers over the next few months.