In this month’s edition of the Grader’s Corner we discuss scratching times for daytime race meetings and look at feature racing upcoming in the new year.

Scratchings

Daytime race meetings are a relatively new development in Queensland greyhound racing with Capalaba, Bundaberg, and Townsville all acquiring new daytime meetings in the past two years.

Prior to this, most Queensland race meetings were conducted in the afternoon or at night.

One thing we have noticed is that daytime meetings have a much higher incidence of late scratchings than twilight or nighttime race meetings.

The reason for this is possibly due to the earlier scratchings times.

Scratchings for morning and day meetings close the day before the race meeting at 8:30am.

Trainers travelling to morning and daytime meetings often leave home before 8.30am; therefore the scratchings have to close the day before the race meeting so that trainers with reserves know if they have got a start or not.

Scratchings for twilight and night meetings close the day of the meeting at 8:30am.

Racing Queensland encourages participants to scratch greyhounds online via OzChase, however the scratching line is also available on 07 3869 9759.

Trainers should not use the nomination line to scratch greyhounds.

Feature racing in the New Year

The annual Country Cup series kicks off in January with qualifying events at Bundaberg, Rockhampton, and Townsville.

To be eligible, greyhounds must have been domiciled north of postcode 4570 since November 4, 2020.

The top two qualifiers from each track, along with the two highest grade third place getters, will progress to the final at Albion Park on February 4, 2020. Each finalist will compete for $12,600 total prizemoney and receive a $1000 starters bonus.

Ipswich also has a busy month in January with the Corporate Dollars Challenge (5^th Grade 520m) and Dash For Cash (Open 288m) finals on Saturday, January 9, before the next generation of Queensland stars are unearthed in the heats of the world richest maiden, the Vince Curry Memorial (520m), on Saturday January 23.