Family theme for greyhound meeting

Greyhound Racing New Zealand is aiming to make family participation the main theme at the Wairarapa club's TAB meeting at Solway Showgrounds on Sunday, January 4.
GRNZ chief executive Lance Bickford says that while there will be plenty of on-track action to keep patrons happy the entertainment off-track would be every bit as exciting as well.
Spearheading the latter will be an aptly-named "Find the Dog A Bone" children's treasure hunt with the prize list there including an Apple eMac computer and an Apple Ipod.
Bickford said kids were also being encouraged to bring along their fox terriers as special races were being carded for them, a local radio station would be organising a "Chase The Bunny" event and there would be such things as adventure slides, bouncy castles, lollipop trains and lolly scrambles too.
"The whole emphasis is on making it a great day out for the whole family?Mum, Dad and the kids," Bickford said.
"The more people we can attract who have not enjoyed the thrill of greyhound racing before the better??..we're wanting to showcase the sport and Solway is the ideal place to do it."
On the race track, the January 4 meeting will have three $6000 features?..the Inter-Provincial Cup, the Wairarapa Cup and the New Zealand Championship Hurdles.
The Inter-Provincial Cup is a class two and three 545m event which will hopefully see each of the greyhound racing regions in New Zealand represented by one runner, the handlers of whom will be attired in the colours of their provincial rugby teams.
Manawatu are the defending champions after local Truant came off the reserve bench to successfully represent them in the inaugural running of this race last year.
The Wairarapa Cup is a class four and five 545m event which could well attract some of the best middle distance greyhounds in the country, amongst them the Masterton-trained Scandanavian who became an early favourite when she toppled a classy field at Wellington just last week.
The New Zealand Championship Hurdles is the premier hurdling event in the country and has provided some stirring contests in the past.
Unfortunately last year's winner Prince Zidane is now deceased, but his trainer Mike Boyd of Palmerston North will still line up a number of strong contenders with the ultra-consistent Aranui Flash foremost amongst them.
The January 4 meeting is the middle meeting in what is being promoted by Greyhounds Wairarapa as a three-day carnival.
It will be preceded by a meeting on December 29 which will feature the heats of the New Zealand Championship Hurdles and followed by a meeting on January 8, at which the highlights will be the finals of a series for maiden and class one middle distance greyhounds, heats for which will be run on both December 29 and January 4.