Effective 1 January 2024, GRV will reduce its weekly racing schedule by one meeting per week, bringing the total down to 24 weekly race meetings.
The racing programme was expanded to 26 race meetings in 2020, which included two new time slots.
In 2022, one of the race meetings was removed following a detailed review of the performance of the racing program.
Considering the current economic climate, industry factors such as greyhound population and breeding numbers, as well as the desire to maintain base stake money levels in the immediate future, a further review of the racing program and wagering outcomes was recently conducted.
After exploring multiple options, the result of the review sees two changes in the program from 1 January 2024:
- Remove Saturday morning race meetings from the calendar, reducing the weekly schedule to 24 race meetings per week.
- Conduct the roving Saturday twilight race meetings as Level 3 race meetings (excluding feature provincial events).
The combined changes ensure a level 3 presence on weekends and is expected to increase field sizes and maximise wagering (and subsequent income) opportunities.
In addition to the meeting reduction, GRV is further exploring opportunities to maximise wagering and optimise the racing schedule available for the 2024/2025 racing calendar to improve the overall result for the industry.
