By David Brasch and Andrew Copley

Sunday 16 December will herald a brand-new day for greyhound racing thanks to the unearthing of the world’s first National Greyhound Draft, to be aired live on Sky Racing from 10am.

Greyhound Clubs Australia, with the support of Greyhound Syndicating Services, will conduct the inaugural Draft, an innovative concept that sees the formation of 10 syndicates racing three greyhounds each. The Draft will be broadcast nationally with unprecedented media exposure of greyhound syndication.

Sandown Greyhound Racing Club CEO Greg Miller is the brains behind the Draft, and he has the support of some of the greatest trainers in the country, as well as media leaders and major owners. The National Greyhound Draft isn’t a money-making exercise, prompting outsiders to ask Greg what Sandown is getting out of it.

“It was mentioned to me that surely this is not the role of a race club, but I, and the Sandown GRC, believe it surely is. We will do anything we can to help this industry prosper. We all need to see the bigger picture here. “The National Greyhound Draft is a world first, as an industry we should be proud of that,” he said.

“The role of race clubs has changed, as has the participants. We need to grow our base and there is no better way than appealing to the next generation than through syndication. I applaud the Trainers and Owners who have taken on this responsibility and applied to contribute.”

The concept

30 untried greyhound pups no older than 11 months of age will form the draft pool. The pups have been purchased by the Sandown GRC upon recommendation from respected racing identity, George Farrugia. The pups have been reared at leading rearing farms in NSW and Tasmania.

Syndicates Structure
The 10 syndicates will be headed by six trainers, two owners and two media representatives. Each syndicate will select three greyhounds. The trainers who are leaders of their syndicates will train their three greyhounds. The other four syndicates have been allocated a trainer for each of their dogs.

Syndicate Leaders
Andrea Dailly – Trainer (Vic)
Ashlee Terry – Trainer (Vic)
Robert Britton – Trainer (Vic)
Ben Rawlings – Trainer (SA)
Peter Lagogiane – Trainer (NSW)
Tom Tzouvelis – Trainer (Qld)
Ray Borda – Owner (SA) (Trainers: Anthony Azzopardi, Paul Abela & Troy Murray)
Peter Cameron – Owner (WA) (Trainers: Angela Langton, Tony Brett & Andrew Crouch)
James Van de Maat – Media (Radio RSN) (Trainers: Matt Lanigan, Brendan Pursell & Kate Gorman)
Troy Little – Media (Radio SEN) (Trainers: Jason Sharp, Ian Garland & Glenn Rounds)

Note: Trainers were selected by a panel of experts from around Australia comprising Luke Gatehouse (CEO Brisbane Club); Michael Floyd (Racing and Media Manager Sandown); Ellen Harris (Operations Manager NSW GBOTA) & David Simonette (Executive Officer Greyhound Clubs Australia)

How the draft will work
Each syndicate’s Team Leader will draw their place in the draft and nominate the greyhound they wish to draft with each selection. The draft will be conducted as a Z formation draft. Selections for each team will be as follows:

Team 1: 1, 20, 21; Team 2: 2, 19, 22; Team 3: 3, 18, 23; Team 4: 4, 17, 24; Team 5: 5, 16, 25; Team 6: 6, 15, 26; Team 7: 7, 14, 27; Team 8: 8, 13, 28; Team 9: 9, 12, 29; Team 10: 10, 11, 30.

The 30 pups in the Draft are members of the following litters:

Black Magic Opal – Absolute Stunna; Black Magic Opal – Velocity Sheba; Fernando Bale – Ainsley Bale; Bella Infrared – Benta Bale; Barcia Bale – Saving Bundles; Black Magic Opal – Invictus Reign; Barcia Bale – Angie Rocks; Premier Fantasy – Mepunga Hayley; Barcia Bale – Mepunga Fame; Thirty Talks – Dark Casio; KC And All – Reshuffle; Fernando Bale – Lainey Bale; Barcia Bale – Blame The Fame; Fernando Bale – Timtams For Bams.

How you can ‘buy in’

Syndication shares are available for $2,550, but there are only 200 on offer. For bios on all of the pups and full details on how to make an application via an expression of intertest into one of the 10 teams, click here.

2018draft.com.au