Greyhound Racing Victoria and the National Coursing Association of Victoria are excited to announce that for the first time, next Sunday’s 2017 Waterloo Cup final will be streamed live at 4:00pm on GRV’s Facebook page.
The Waterloo Cup will be run over two consecutive days at Longwood, with the weekend to also include veteran, maiden and puppy coursing events on the Sunday as more than $25,000 in prize money will be spread across the weekend.
One of the favourites to win the Waterloo Cup is Gotham Queen (pictured with trainer Sean Lithgow and wife Melanie), who won the Longwood Cup on 13 August. Lithgow, who trains six greyhounds at Devon Meadows as well as working as an environmental consultant in Collingwood, said winning the Longwood Cup was “a huge thrill”.
“Coursing is so good for their fitness. Even if a greyhound gets through to its second course and competes twice in a day they come out of it looking like a carved, stone statue.”
“I’ve been training greyhounds for eight or nine years. This is my second year of coursing and the first year I’ve had any sort of success doing it,” Lithgow said. “The dogs absolutely love it. They are only ever competing against one other greyhound and that gives them enormous confidence, and coursing is so good for their fitness.”
Gotham Queen has been a regular on the coursing circuit this season, winning three events including the Longwood Cup and the Victorian Oaks at Lang Lang, while also regularly winning TAB races including a full-stakes victory over 515m at Sandown in July.
“I’ve found that coursing really stimulates their chasing instincts when they return to racing on a circle track,” Lithgow said. “Even if a greyhound gets through to its second course and competes twice in a day they come out of it looking like a carved, stone statue.”
Gotham Queen (Barcia Bale – Evie’s Entity) is a litter sister to Billy’s Bake (trained by Ian Garland), who has gone through unbeaten in two separate days on the coursing circuit in recent weeks while also making a name for himself as one of Victoria’s most promising stayers.
Coursing, which operates as a knockout format, requires greyhounds to race one-on-one up to three times across a day. While most coursing events are completed in one day, the Waterloo Cup is particularly testing, with the winner needing to win three courses on the Saturday and another three the next day.
“One of the great things about coursing is that greyhounds rarely endure any injuries because they are racing up the straight. You just have to make sure you really look after them in between runs, including giving them electrolytes to avoid lactic acid build up, and giving them every chance to rest and recover before they run again. Because the dogs enjoy it so much we find it extremely rewarding,” Lithgow said.
The Waterloo Cup weekend (August 26 & 27) also includes consolation events the Waterloo Plate, Waterloo Purse & Longwood Challenge. Nominations close on Thursday, 24 August at 8:30am with GRV FastTrack. Full details below (click on image to enlarge).
