Friday Night Lights For Country Challenge Showdown
Greyhound Racing NSW has today confirmed the date for the 2009-10 K.S. Black & Co. Country Challenge Showdown has been brought forward to Friday 9 July.
The event, which features $20,000 in prize money for the top eight point scorers in the GRNSW Country Challenge series, is being moved from Saturday 10 July to take advantage of the introduction of Friday night racing at Wentworth Park from July 1.
The K.S. Black & Co. Country Challenge Showdown will be only the second Friday night of greyhound racing at headquarters. NSW's premier greyhound racing venue moves into an exciting era with metropolitan racing to be staged on a Friday and Saturday night just a kilometre from the Central Business District.
“This represents a new dawn for our sport as we look to position it appropriately for the challenges it faces in the medium to long term,” said GRNSW Chief Executive Brent Hogan. “Having racing on a Friday night at Wentworth Park will enable us to expand our core customer base and welcome new people to the sport. Before long, greyhound racing will be the only code to race in the city on a Friday night after scheduling changes in other sports.
“The K.S. Black & Co. Country Challenge Showdown will be a fantastic opportunity to showcase how successful Friday night racing can be at Wentworth Park. It marks the end of 10 months of exciting racing in the Country Challenge series all across the state and provides country owners and trainers with an opportunity to have their time in the limelight.”
It is the second year that accounting firm K.S. Black & Co. have sponsored the Country Challenge Showdown concept and Partner Stuart Cameron is excited about his involvement again in 2010.
“Our partnership with Greyhound Racing NSW, in particular through the Country Challenge series, is one that we're very proud of,” Mr Cameron said. “We had a great time at the Showdown last year and can't wait to see what type of interest it will generate on a Friday night this year.”
The GRNSW Country Challenge races at 28 Non-TAB tracks statewide stretching from Wagga Wagga in the south, Tweed Heads in the north to Broken Hill in the west. Greyhounds accumulate points according to their finishing positions in the finals of each leg with the connections of the highest scoring greyhound pocketing a $10,000 bonus as overall Country Challenge Champion.
The top eight point scorers are then invited to compete in the K.S. Black & Co. Country Challenge Showdown at Wentworth Park. GRNSW has again injected another $170,000 into the Country Challenge in 2009-10 meaning its overall contribution stands at almost three-quarters of a million dollars since the concept's inception four years ago.