Hove and Monmore announced as 2020 and 2021 TV Trophy Venues
GBGB are pleased to announce that the venues for the 2020 and 2021 TV Trophy have now been set with Hove confirmed for 2020, and Monmore to stage the long-distance classic the following year.
A panel of industry representatives comprising GRB Chair Peter Cadman (Chair), ORCP members Nathan Corden and Dave Perry, trainers’ representative Peter Harnden and prominent owner Nic Brereton, reviewed and approved each proposal.
The 2020 TV Trophy will be sponsored by Coral and staged over Hove’s 945m trip, with three heats and a final provisionally set to take place alongside the semi-finals and final of the Sussex Cup in late July. The historic event will be returning to the south coast for the first time in over 50 years when Spectre II won for Sheffield trainer Jim Hookway in 1967 after finishing runner up to litter brother Tric Trac in the English Derby at White City that same year.
The 2021 Ladbrokes sponsored TV Trophy at Monmore will be staged over 835m with dates to be confirmed as part of 2021’s scheduling process; it is also intended to be staged in mid-summer. The Wolverhampton venue has hosted the TV Trophy four times since its inauguration, with most recent winner, Mark Wallis’s Blonde Reagan, joining a roll of honour that includes the inimitable Scurlogue Champ.
Winners of both the 2020 and 2021 renewals will receive £10,000, runners up £1,000 and others £500.
Racing Committee Secretary Amanda Duplock said: “Crayford and Romford have done a fantastic job of staging the TV Trophy for the last two years with both events featuring top class fields and finals. We’re extremely grateful to Coral and Ladbrokes for coming forward once again to back this key event in the calendar, and to Hove and Monmore for taking up the baton. The GBGB Racing Committee’s aim was to see the event take place at different types of tracks around the country to give a range of greyhounds and their connections an opportunity to participate – the venues for 2020 and 2021, and the last two years will achieve that goal.”
Ladbrokes Coral Director of Stadia Ian Smyth said: “We are delighted to have secured the TV Trophy for a further two years having had two special nights at Crayford & Romford in the first two years of our sponsorship. Hove & Monmore will present a different challenge for what is a top quality stayers division. With the timings we hope to create two special summer nights alongside the Sussex Cup in 2020 & the Monmore Summer Festival in 2021 and am again grateful to my parent company GVC for their ongoing levels of commitment and sponsorship they continue to afford to our four tracks”
Dates will be confirmed for both events as part of each year’s major race scheduling with full details appearing in the Calendar in due course.
