Nottingham has been confirmed as the host of the English Greyhound Derby for a second time in 2020.
Central Park did initially express an interest to host the Classic but in the end, Nottingham was the only track to have submitted details proposals by the closing date of last Friday.
Peter Cadman, Chairman of the GBGB Regulatory Board, who chairs the Industry Panel which dealt with Derby submissions, said: “The panel were grateful to have considered such a detailed submission by Nottingham for their proposal to hold the Derby for 2020.
“The fact that they delivered a very largely successful Derby for 2019, made our role a little easier, albeit full scrutiny was applied to the application by the whole panel. We are therefore delighted to announce that the English Derby will be held at Nottingham in 2020.”
The race will again be backed by Star Sport, Arc and Local Parking Security and will be run a few weeks earlier to avoid clashing with the Euro Football Championships. Dates are due to be finalised by the weekend.
Responding to the news, Nottingham’s Rachel Corden said: “We are thrilled to be hosting the Derby once again and are extremely grateful to our fabulous sponsors – Ben Keith at Star Sports, ARC and Richard & Donna Evans at Local Parking Security Limited – for continuing to believe in Team Nottingham and for sharing our love for the Greyhound Derby. “
“The Derby is without doubt the most prestigious event in greyhound racing’s calendar and we will be announcing the dates this week to ensure that owners and trainers have the maximum time to prepare.
“With our central location, we are pleased to provide accessibility both for GBGB licensed trainers and owners throughout the country, and for our Irish neighbours.
“Statistically speaking, Nottingham has been visited by the highest number of open race trainers in 2018 and 2019 to date, confirming the track’s popularity.
“Importantly, welfare is at the heart of what we do at Nottingham and we are lucky to have such a dedicated, skilled and experienced team, who are determined to provide a good home for next year’s Derby.
“Our facilities are some of the best in the industry and – from the racing office to our track preparation team – everyone will be working hard to deliver a safe, smooth and successful event.
“Everyone knows what a huge commitment the Derby is, and that is reflected in how few stadia put themselves forward again this year.
“Nevertheless, at Nottingham we take great pride in the opportunity to play host to the Derby and to be a part of our sport’s incredible history. Along with our wonderful sponsors, we are prepared to put in that time, effort and financial commitment to ensure the success of the 2020 English Greyhound Derby.
Corden acknowledges there are lessons to learn from last year. She says: “Last year was a huge learning curve for us and, whilst we delivered on the racing side, we know that some technical issues and service issues stopped the Finals evening going as smoothly as we would have liked.
“We now have that experience under our belt to address those issues. It would be a challenge for any stadium to deliver at this scale, but we are confident we will have everything in place for 2020 to meet the needs of the occasion. “
On the contentious issue of a perceived starting traps bias, she said: ““There is always debate about the different type of starting traps at stadia in Britain and Ireland, but the statistics show that across the standard distances at the seven most-visited GBGB stadia for open racing, for 2019 to date, Nottingham has the least variance from the highest winning trap percentage to the lowest trap winning percentage.
“That aside we are looking into the different trap types within the industry, studying the data and researching the options to ensure an even as possible playing field.
“High welfare and integrity standards are essential for a successful Derby and these are always our top priorities.”
She added: “Hosting the 2020 Greyhound Derby is a massive commitment to the sport by Nottingham and its sponsors, not least with a winner’s purse of £100,000 on offer. I hope that the industry will get behind us to ensure a fantastic, well-supported and exciting competition that continues to showcase the best of our sport.”
Ben Keith from Star Sports said: “Star Sports is delighted, once again to be involved with Nottingham. Our main priority is the safety of the dogs and with the Nottingham team that has never been in doubt. We look forward to The Derby becoming more and more of a showcase event and seeing The Greyhound Racing family at Nottingham in 2020.”
Mark Kingston, Director of Media Technology & Production at ARC said: “We are delighted that the 2020 English Greyhound Derby will be hosted again at Nottingham and we are looking forward to working with them in order to help make what is the most prestigious event in the sport’s calendar, as successful as it can be.”
Richard Evans of Local Parking Security Ltd said: “As a family business we are so happy to support Rachel and her team at Nottingham for the second year. Last year’s Derby was run brilliantly and we are looking forward to another successful Derby.”
Nottingham anticipates that The Star Sports, ARC & LPS Greyhound Derby 2020 will be announced later this week. RPGTV will be sponsoring three supporting Category 2 competitions, with competition Finals on Derby Final night and it is anticipated that all rounds will be shown on RPGTV.
