Greyhound Racing Victoria has today announced it will run a five-month pilot program from 8 September 2024 to 30 January 2025, which will involve the inclusion of 13^th and 14^th races at designated venues in exchange for one less race meeting a week.

The pilot will involve temporarily suspending the second Sunday day race meeting (mostly at Ballarat) and redistributing 10 races across Monday to Thursday race meetings at venues that have sufficient kennel space to accommodate 13 or 14 races.

The trial is ultimately aimed at optimising wagering outcomes in key timeslots and better utilising the greyhound population by testing the potential benefits of conducting a similar number of races across a week but doing it with one less race meeting.

With two out of 13 tracks currently closed for racing, the pilot is also aimed at better meeting the demands of the racing program with only 11 tracks currently operational.

The select race meetings as part of the pilot and the expected number of races to be conducted (subject to nominations) are:

1. Monday: Ballarat (Day) – 14 races, Shepparton (Twilight) – 13 races, Warrnambool (Twilight) – 13 races
2. Tuesday: Geelong (Twilight) – 13 races
3. Wednesday: Bendigo (Twilight) – 13 races, Ballarat (Night) – 14 races
4. Thursday: Shepparton (Day) – 13 races, Warrnambool (Night) – 13 races

Healesville (Day) and Sale (Twilight) will continue to conduct race meetings on Sunday whilst Sandown Park (SAP) will continue to race on Monday Nights.

GRV will monitor the pilot and seek regular feedback from stakeholders including employees, clubs, participants and GOTBA, and will work with Sky Racing to optimise gaps between races in the best interest of participants and race day officials.

For further questions, please contact [email protected]