Winter Carnival Preview

The winter carnival is well and truly under way following the Group 3 Brisbane Young Guns and Group 3 Carnival Chase run in May.

This month sees Albion Park host heats of the Group 2 Flying Amy Classic (520m) for greyhound’s 30 months and younger. It will carry total prizemoney of $150,000 for the first time this year, with winning connections pocketing $100,000. Heats will be run on Thursday 9 June 2022, with the final the following Thursday, 16 June 2022.

Both heat and final night will be shared with the heats of the Group 3 Dashing Corsair over 710m. The event is open to all greyhounds and carries prizemoney of $37,500.

Super Night returns to Albion Park again this year on 23 June 2022, with a race being held over every distance. Features on the night include:

  • Group 3 Super Sprinters 520m
  • Group 3 Super Stayers Invitational 710m
  • The Lightning Open 331m (heats run on Monday 20 June 2022).
  • The Thunder Open 395m (heats run on Sunday 19 June 2022).
  • The Tempest Open 600m
  • Chairman’s Cup Open 710m

On the final night of June 2022, the biggest stars in Australian greyhound racing will lineup in heats of the Group 1 Brisbane Cup (520m) and the Group 1 Queensland Cup (710m).

Both events are open to all greyhounds and have significant prizemoney increases for 2022. The Group 1 Brisbane Cup will carry total prizemoney of $525,000, with $350,000 going to winning connections, while the Group 1 Queensland Cup will carry total prizemoney of $225,000, with $150,000 going to winning connections.

Nominations for both events will close at 9am on Monday 27 June 2022.

As a further incentive for kennels to participate throughout the carnival, any greyhound that places 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in the final of a carnival lead up event and wins a heat of the Group 1 Brisbane Cup or the Group 1 Queensland Cup, will earn $10,000 bonus.

Lead-up events include, Brisbane Young Guns, BGRC 50th Anniversary, Carnival Chase, Flying Amy Classic, Dashing Corsair, Super Sprinters, and Super Stayers.

Nominations for all Thursday night meetings close on Monday mornings at 9.00am.

A reminder to all trainers, that all nominations for Queensland race meetings are to be submitted via the OzChase online nominations portal. If you intend on nominating during the carnival, we recommend getting set up with an account as soon as possible.

Greyhound Retirement Readiness Scheme

Under the new National Greyhound Racing Rules, all greyhounds that are being retired as pets must be desexed prior to leaving the care of the licensee – unless the greyhound is being accepted into an approved Greyhound Adoption program (GAP). To support licensee’s, RQ will reimburse up to $800 per greyhound towards the cost of desexing, dental treatment, vaccination and eligible pre-anesthetic blood tests for greyhounds that have been retired as pets.

Racing Queensland’s scheme encourages participants to go above-and-beyond the requirements of the national rules, by providing reimbursements towards the above procedures.

The new national rules also now state that a greyhound must be fully vaccinated (C5) throughout its racing life and cannot compete in a race or trial for seven days after being vaccinated.

The QRIC will provide a 12-month penalty free moratorium period to May 1, 2023, for participants to adapt to the new C5 vaccination requirements, at the end of the 12-month moratorium period, non-compliant greyhounds will be ineligible for nomination for events.