A BUNCH of battlers will get their chance to shine alongside some of the stars of the greyhound track at the upcoming Bendigo Cup Carnival.
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The Battlers Cup (425m), worth $5000 to the winner and carrying total prizemoney of $7750, is the newest addition to the cup program.
The creation of Bendigo Greyhound Racing Association and Greyhound Racing Victoria, the new race aims to provide an opportunity for lesser performed greyhounds and smaller and hobby type trainers to compete for a higher stakes event and share the spotlight on a bigger stage.
BGRA chief executive officer Troy Harley said the Battlers Cup would no doubt become a target for trainers with Tier 3 dogs.
"The BGRA is always keen to look at ways to provide opportunities for participants at all levels and our two carnivals offer a host of different types of races, but none for the lower tier grade of greyhound," Harley said.
"To ensure the race series serves the purpose it is supposed to, quite a few conditions of eligibility have been placed on it so we are extremely grateful for GRV's support in accepting the conditions and supporting the stakes level.
"Who knows, it might be the first of several of these types of races."
Up to 12 heats of the race will be run on June 24, with the Battlers Cup final to be run on July 3.
A consolation final will also be run on July 3.
GRV chief executive officer Alan Clayton hailed the race as a bonus for the participants, who kept turning up week-in, week-out at tier 3 race meetings for the love of the dog and the competition.
"GRV are continually looking at ways we can help the grassroots participants, the hobby trainers that have great passion for the industry and rarely get the chance to compete for feature race stakes," he said.
"We were very quick to support the race concept, conditions and level of stake money and look forward to seeing the interest in this series and wish everyone who competes in the series the best of luck."
Prizemoney includes $5000 for first, $1500 for second, $750 for third, and $100 for unplaced runners.
The new race follows hot on the heels of the announcements of record prizemoney for the Group 2 Bendigo Cup Final of $50,000 and the return of the the Gold Rush Maiden and Stayers Cup features to the racing calendar.
Battlers Cup eligibility
- Tier 3 eligible at close of nominations.
- Must be in trainers care as at May 25, 2020.
- Maiden ineligible.
- Minimum 10 starts at close of nominations.
- No city wins (full stake metro).
- No city starts (full start metro) after June 1, 2020.
- Last five starts must have been in Tier 3 or ranking races at close of nominations.
- If more than 96 entries are received a random ballot will be done to determine the runners drawn with no trainer guarding.
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