There was a busy night of greyhound racing in Kilkenny on Friday as The Champion Open officially got underway.
It follows on from the Con & Annie Kirby Memorial that took place in Limerick last month which saw €160,000 in prize money on offer.
While The Champion Open isn’t quite as lucrative, it is one of the biggest fixtures on the calendar and manager of Kilkenny greyhound track Tom Kinane explained the rewards available to trainers and owners when he spoke to KCLR’s Scoreline on Saturday.
He said: “We had a cracking card, eleven races in total eight of which were taken up with The Champion Open first round heats.
“There is more than 20,000 euro in prize money available and 10,000 euro for the winner.”
First timers
Kinane highlighted the lure of this particular event and pinpointed the difference between The Champion Open and other events throughout the year.
“Every dog is running in their first race and because they are inexperienced, they will come on leaps and bounds, and they will be totally different come next year.
“The beauty of this is that it is over four weeks and it’s very hard to pick a winner, so it keeps everyone interested,” said Kinane.
The Kilkenny greyhound track manager also mentioned the races that take place every Wednesday morning on the track.
“We also have eleven races every Wednesday morning that is geared towards local trainers and it really gives them a chance to get their dogs out onto the track.”
You can catch all of Friday’s results here!
The interview with Tom can be found on Scoreline Extra below