Premier Greyhound Racing have hailed their launch on Monday as a great success, describing themselves as ‘the future of greyhound racing.’
It might be a little too soon to make anything like an informed judgement about the company’s claim, but it’s fair to say that Monday’s New Year’s Day meetings went well and that their coverage was wide-reaching.
It’s the addition of the Entain tracks: Romford, Monmore Green, Crayford and Hove to their offer that may prove to be the real game changer with GTV now reduced to Oxford, Towcester, Suffolk Downs, Valley, Harlow and Doncaster, plus Mullingar and Clonmel in Ireland. The Racing Post seem to have ‘jumped ship’ too, removing their support of GTV to get fully behind PGR.
However, the launch has received a mixed reaction on social media and greyhound racing forums with some expecting more than ‘just another channel’ being left feeling disappointed.
At Greyhound Weekly, we are excited by the ambition of PGR and hope that they will work with the tracks to help improve attendances, drive stadium improvements and provide better coverage via the SKY channel, At The Races.
We are grateful to PGR for sending us their press-release, published below.
Premier Greyhound Racing: the future of greyhound racing is here
Fans enjoyed a fantastic day of fixtures at five Premier Greyhound Racing affiliated tracks on Monday as the company launched to rave reviews.
Racing throughout the day saw some thrilling races at tracks including Romford and Swindon in the morning and Monmore Green, Sunderland and Central Park in the afternoon.
The inaugural, Watch Premier Greyhound Racing on Sky Sports Racing race, at 13.51 at Monmore Green had chair of Premier Greyhound Racing, Lord David Lipsey, present the winning trophy to star, Whisky Georgia, trained by Craig Marston and owned by Mr B N Owen.
Racegoers now have the chance to watch all fixtures wherever they are thanks to Premier Greyhound Racing’s new broadcast deal with Sky Sports Racing and At The Races. This has allowed fans to tune in between fixtures on their TVs and has included additional action on the red button. Plus people can stream live on their phones and tablets when out and about on the new Premier Greyhound Racing website: greyhounds.attheraces.com
Lord David Lipsey, chair of Premier Greyhound Racing, said: “There’s life in the old dogs yet! This is a new start that greyhound racing has been crying out for, for so long.”
