Victorian greyhound racing’s inaugural Metropolitan Festival of Racing moves into its third of five massive nights on Thursday when Sandown Park hosts the Group 3 Shootout (515m) at 7.58pm.
A four-dog race boasting a winner-take-all prize of $25,000, the Shootout provides the perfect platform to unofficially establish which greyhound is the fastest in the land.
This year’s field boasts four electrifying greyhounds who are all capable of producing low-flying times – Christo Bale (Box 1), Hard Style Rico (Box 3), Tiggerlong Tonk (Box 5) and Shima Shine (Box 7).
Shima Shine and Hard Style Rico have already made their presence felt during November’s Metro Festival of Racing, winning the G1 TAB Topgun (525m) and G3 RSN Silver Bullet (525m) at The Meadows respectively.
Christo Bale won the 525m G3 Speed Star at The Meadows in September, winning a titanic battle with Catch The Thief (Shootout reserve), while Tiggerlong Tonk has contested more than 10 group finals and boasts a cracking personal best time at Sandown Park of 29.12sec.
The inaugural Metro Festival of Racing incorporates 10 group races run across five nights of racing at The Meadows and Sandown Park during November, with almost $2 million in prize money being distributed.
The Festival will culminate with the world’s greatest greyhound race, the TAB Melbourne Cup (515m) at Sandown Park on Friday 27 November.
