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Post by BVADMIN on Jan 28, 2013 11:48:54 GMT
Thursday 16 January 2013
Bookmakers’ Afternoon Greyhound Services (BAGS) today launches a new, ground-breaking competition, the BAGS/SIS Easter Eggstravaganza.
This unique event, boasting a prize fund of £125,000, replaces last year’s Easter Bunny and will for the first time in BAGS’ history bring together the 16 tracks for a 16-race Finals Day showdown at Monmore Green on Good Friday, 29 March - a day when there is no horse racing in the UK.
The Eggstravaganza gets underway on Saturday, 2 March, and the preliminary rounds of the competition will provide a highlight every day for two weeks at each of the participating tracks, culminating in a gala day of racing at the end of the month.
BAGS/SIS will sponsor each track to produce their own team of six dogs in six one-off qualifying races. The 16 tracks will then go forward to Finals Day and compete on a points basis in 16 races over varying distances to produce an overall winning team.
Each of the 16 races on Finals Day are worth £2,000 in prize money, with £1,000 to the winner. Points will be awarded in each race for the first three home – with 5 going to the winner, 3 for second and 1 point for third. The winning team will receive £6,000 to be shared among the trainers, with an additional £10,000 to be paid out in prize money at the track. Second prize is £3,000, with £6,000 in track prize money, with the team finishing third receiving £1,000 and £4,000 in prize money for their track.
Scott Harvey, Deputy Secretary of BAGS said: “We have listened to track management, owners and trainers following the hugely popular Track Championship and have come up with a competition to keep team spirit and camaraderie flowing.
“The Easter Eggstravaganza now gives smaller tracks who struggled at the group stage of the Championship a chance for their teams to shine and win big on the day. And whereas the Easter Bunny had no overall winner, and no team element, just a series of finals, the new format transforms the event and hopefully should generate plenty of interest on and off the track during the month of March.”
The qualifying rounds of the competition will be held on specified dates (see attached). Greyhounds must have competed in a minimum of five graded races at their home track to be eligible to take part, one of which must have been run at a BAGS meeting. Dogs who have been competing in and have won a maximum of one Open race will be eligible to run. The event will take place at Monmore Green which has a paddock capacity sufficient for all 96 greyhounds to be kennelled.
Note: Bookmakers’ Afternoon Greyhound Services is the rights holder and organiser of televised racing to licensed betting premises.
For further information contact Scott Harvey on 0207 434 0123.
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Post by BVADMIN on Jan 28, 2013 11:49:36 GMT
Eggstravaganza a real Easter treat
The 2013 Eggstravaganza is an extravaganza in two senses. Firstly the Finals Day will consist of 16 races – a feast for greyhound fans. Secondly the preliminary rounds of the competition will provide an action-packed highlight at a BAGS track every day for the first two weeks of March, ultimately creating a quality race meeting to be run on Good Friday, a day when there is no horse racing in the UK, allowing for our sport to take centre stage.
ALL roads lead to Monmore for the Eggstravaganza finals This ground-breaking event carries a prize fund of £125,000 and will be run on a points system to produce an overall winning team on Finals Day at Monmore Green, 29 March. The winning team will receive £6,000 to be shared among trainers, with an additional £10,000 in prize money for their track to be paid out during the month of April. Second prize is £3,000, with £6,000 in track prize money, with the team finishing third receiving £1,000, and £4,000 in prize money for their track.
BAGS/SIS will also sponsor all 16 tracks to each produce their own team of six dogs in six one-off qualifying races to be staged during the first half of the month of March. This will mean that the Easter Eggstravaganza will contain 16 races on Finals Day over varying distances, with each track being represented in six different races. No team can be doubly represented in any one race.
Each of the 16 races run on Finals Day carries a generous first prize of £1,000, with £500 for second, £200 third and £100 others. Points will be awarded in each race for the first three home – with 5 points going to the winner, 3 points for second and 1 point for the third. In this way the tracks can amass points for their team, which will convert into prize money at the end of the competition. It is hoped that the Eggstravaganza will create a real buzz for those taking part and further add to the enthusiasm and camaraderie generated by the Track Championship.
The first round of the competition will take the form of qualifying races which will determine the track champion for each of the distances that the track will be racing over on Finals Day. Each track will stage six races on the specified dates, with the winner of each automatically qualifying to represent their track on Finals Day. Expenses of £1,000 will be allocated to each track to travel to Monmore.
Greyhounds must have completed a minimum of five races at their home track to be eligible to take part, one of which must have been run at a BAGS meeting. Dogs who have been competing in and have won a maximum of one Open race will also be eligible to run. The event will take place at Monmore Green which has a paddock capacity sufficient for all 96 greyhounds to be kennelled.
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Post by BVADMIN on Jan 28, 2013 11:58:55 GMT
TOTAL PRIZE MONEY - £125,000 Prize money for qualifying races:
Winner £200 and presentation jacket Second £100 Others £50..
This means that each track will be paying out £3,000 in total for the six qualifying races. This produces a total for the 16 tracks of £48,000. Prize money for the Easter Eggstravaganza Finals Winner £1000, trophy and five points Second £500 and three points Third £200 and one point Others £100
This means that with 16 races each worth £2,000 there will be £32,000 on offer on the day.
The Easter Eggstravaganza Finals also offers a prize money pot of £6,000 for the track with the greatest number of points on the day, with £3000 for second place, and £1000 for third, to be shared between the trainers of the teams in question, in a manner to be determined by the tracks themselves.
In addition the winning team will earn an additional £10,000 in prize money for their stadium, with the second earning £6000 and the third placed team earning £4,000. The prize money earned in this way should be paid as additional prize money in the month of April 2013.
Finally, each track will be allocated £1000 in travel expenses, except Monmore as host track. In total the prize money and prizes available in the competition will be £125,000 excluding jackets and trophies.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2013 12:14:51 GMT
With a little over 3 weeks before the Belle Vue Meeting of this comp, do we know yet what the race format will be (race distances etc) the fact that Belle Vue runs predominantly 470 metre races dictates our strengths methinks.
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Post by BVADMIN on Feb 25, 2013 10:30:53 GMT
With a little over 3 weeks before the Belle Vue Meeting of this comp, do we know yet what the race format will be (race distances etc) the fact that Belle Vue runs predominantly 470 metre races dictates our strengths methinks.
But of course we will have to wait and see what the BV RO decide upon shortly. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2013 14:31:38 GMT
its going to take a good one to beat
aldworth sampson
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2013 14:41:20 GMT
its going to take a good one to beat aldworth sampson no dog will beat this if 'Sampson' is on the bunny! The current racing strength at Newcastle is top notch |
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Post by benny on Feb 26, 2013 13:46:21 GMT
the bags eggstravaganza has in my opinion lost its way.
launched for what i thought was grass roots racing initially it now seems that open race dogs are accepted.this flies in the face of the original idea and which grass roots owners warmed to.
now its one open and no doubt soon it wont matter.
it seems the only trainers that miss out are those unattached.
is there anyone else who thinks the original idea has been shafted or is everyone in agreement.
the way it is going then it will become just another open race scenario with little or no chance/room for the grass roots.
am i on the right track or am i wrong.
thoughts please.
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Post by precious on Feb 26, 2013 14:29:52 GMT
I agree.
I thought this competition's original format gave owners and Trainers with graded dogs an opportunity to win decent prizemoney. This surely helps attract and retain owners who wish to buy decent dogs.
Belle Vue has reached the Final of the Inter Track competition in both years it has been run and, in both years, Belle Vue has beaten Sheffield in the heats. Benny did ask whether Belle Vue had better dogs than Sheffield at the time. I think the answer is that with regard to A1 dogs Belle Vue are stronger but Sheffield are far stronger in terms of open race dogs who run occasionally in A1.
The changes being made are as far as I'm concerned unwelcome in that not only do they undermine a key feature which made the competition attractive but they will also ensure that the competition in future will be dominated by tracks with a strong open race class of dog.
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Post by BVADMIN on Feb 26, 2013 16:39:33 GMT
I can't see a problem with this new competition.
In a couple of weeks time on a normally boring Wednesday afternoon BAGS meeting at Belle Vue
There will be six races made up of 36 Belle Vue Graders, the winners of these six races will
go through to contest in finals on Good Friday.
The only real change in this competition is that the Belle Vue Racing Office Team can pick a grader
that has already won ONE open race be it at home or away, but greyhounds that have won more than one open race
can't race in this competition called 'The Bags Eggstravaganza' which I think is quite right.
I'm really looking forward to this new competition myself and on the days there will be some very decent prize-money up for grabs, and also the six winners will then qualify for finals day where there is once again some very tasty prize-money on offer.
TOTAL PRIZE MONEY - £125,000 Prize money for qualifying races:
Winner £200 and presentation jacket Second £100 Others £50..
This means that each track will be paying out £3,000 in total for the six qualifying races.
This produces a total for the 16 tracks of £48,000. Prize money for the Easter Eggstravaganza Finals Winner £1000, trophy and five points Second £500 and three points Third £200 and one point Others £100
This means that with 16 races each worth £2,000 there will be £32,000 on offer on the day
My only regret none of mine will be involved....
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