Ireland Given Green Light to Host World cup

Agent Smith

Taken from Greyhound weekly


The official green light is expected to be given to the World Greyhound Cup at a meeting to be attended by representatives of four nations in Dublin’s Herbert Park Hotel on Friday.

The day will kick off with a meeting of the Steering Committee which will select the committee and officers and decide on other matters such as the number of meetings, local and international sub committees, etc.
Then there will be the important discussion regarding the financing of the series and the prizemoney on offer as well as the event calendar. The date of July 22nd, 2006 has been mentioned as a possible date for the first running of the Million Dollar Race. It is envisaged that the best date would be between the English and Irish Derbys.
Obviously it would be necessary to avoid clashing with such events as the Soccer World Cup which runs between June 9th and July 9th next year, the Galway Races, the All-Ireland Hurling and Football finals and, of course, the Ryder Cup which takes place in Ireland next year between September 22nd and 24th.
Other matters to be decided will include the venue for the race, the time it will be staged, the rotation between all the countries and the supporting programme for the big event.
And, of course, there is the format for the race – over what distance will it be staged and will it be behind the traditional Irish and British outside lure or behind an inside lure to facilitate the Aussies and the Americans. We have expressed our feelings on this matter in the past but it would appear that few of our owners and trainers have any strong feelings. They will probably wake up to the matter when it is too late!
For the first leg in Ireland the suggested starting time is 10 p.m. which would be 5 p.m. in Boston and 8 a.m. in Sydney. That is obviously a very important issue as it is necessary to maximise the numbers who watch and bet on the race.
It is hoped that a Festival can be arranged in conjunction with the big race and Failte Ireland would have a big role in this regard.
Other matters to be discussed include marketing, branding, promotion, media coverage, sponsorship, quarantine and regulation.
Representing Ireland at the meeting will be Paschal Taggart, Aidan Tynan, Daniel O’Leary and Peter Franklin while the British team will include Lord Lipsey, Clive Feltham, Johnny Haynes and John Petrie.
Dan Ryan from Lincoln Park and Pat Dalton will represent the American interests while travelling from Australia are Wayne Billett, the General Manager of Dapto; George Bawtree, the CEO of New South Wales Racing and Peter Davies of the Illawara.

lazylad

Brillant.
Does anybody have any good links to info on it?

Agent Smith

it should be in this weeks Sporting press, Available on a thursday, in easons and all good newsagents ( altho they might have to order it for you)