Australian greyhound racing’s richest race, The Phoenix, will be held a week earlier in 2025, in one of a number of key changes to the 2025-26 Victorian greyhound racing calendar.

The Meadows will host their premier event on Saturday 13 December this year supported by heats of the Silver Chief to be conducted on the same night.

Australia’s only Group 1 race held on a country track, the Sale Cup, is also on the move, with the traditional Boxing Day meeting now to be held on Saturday 3 January 2026.

Several changes to other feature events have been made after consultation with Clubs and Greyhound Clubs Australia as coordinators of the Australian Group Race Calendar.

• The Maturity Classic and The Fireball finals held at The Meadows, move back one week to Saturday 26 July to avoid a clash with the Queensland Winter Carnival.
• Heats of the Ron Hawkswell Cup – formerly the TopCat Video Cup – at The Meadows (Saturday 6 September) and the final of the Sportsbet Healesville Cup (Sunday 14 September) have moved back a week due to the Nationals in Brisbane being held on Saturday 30 August this year.
• The Laurels series at Sandown moves from December to November, with the final to be run on the same night as the Shootout on Friday 14 November.
• The Sportsbet Warragul Cup final will move from its traditional early January slot to Friday 6 February, to accommodate the Sale Cup shift.
• The Sportsbet Horsham Cup heats will move from a Friday to Tuesday in a move designed to optimise nominations for the final to be held on Saturday 7 March.
• The Sportsbet Geelong Gold Cup series moves back one week with the final to be held on Friday 17 April to avoid a clash with the Golden Easter Egg at Wentworth Park.

Maintaining an average of 23 race meetings per week, for a total of 1194 race meetings, and budgeted $61.9m in prizemoney, travel and starters fees, which is the same return as 2024-2025, the 2025-26 schedule features:

• Bendigo Friday Twilight meetings permanently moved to Night for better wagering outcomes;
• The removal of the Sunday Day slot and inclusion of 13/14 race programs on a permanent basis to schedule the same number of races in the year across less meetings.

A breakdown of the race meetings by class for 2025-26 are:

• 102 Level 1 (metropolitan) race meetings, down from 103 in 2024-25;
• 622 Level 2 (provincial) race meetings, down from 657 in 2024-25, as a result of full-year impact of the removal of the Sunday day slot with the races spread across the 13 and 14-race programs;
• 470 Level 3 race meetings, up from 441 in 2024-25, as a result of full-year impact of Wednesday day meeting conversion to Level 3.

Traralgon GRC and Cranbourne GRC are not currently included in the calendar due to those tracks being currently in recess. If either club is ready to race following a redevelopment prior to July 2026, the calendar will see a redistribution of race dates to accommodate the return to racing at these venues.

Quotes attributable to GRV chief executive officer Stuart Laing

“The 2025-26 racing calendar will enable our clubs to conduct feature meetings, carnivals and major events which provide the best opportunity to maximise attendance, connect with local communities, optimise wagering outcomes and deliver the best quality racing,” Laing said.

“This racing calendar is aimed at providing consistency for clubs and trainers and to ensure current and future greyhound population trends are taken into consideration to provide the best possible racing opportunities for greyhounds and participants to compete on a regular basis.”

Click here to download the full Victorian race dates calendar for the 2025-26 season.