Dubbo Launch Ladbrokes Brother Fox Carnival

THE progressive Dubbo Greyhound Racing Club, in conjunction with major sponsor Ladbrokes, will honour Hall of Famer Brother Fox with naming rights to its lucrative May racing carnival.

The carnival will be headlined by the $40,000-to-the-winner Ladbrokes Brother Fox (516m) with heats slated for May 22 before the final on May 28.

The race was formerly the Dubbo Cup.

Dubbo GRC President, Shayne Stiff, said the decision to launch the Ladbrokes Brother Fox was an easy one, paying tribute to Steve Kavanagh's local champion chaser of the mid-1980s.

"Brother Fox was a champion and did so much for the town of Dubbo,” Stiff said.

“He drew thousands to the track including an exhibition race in 1985 where they were 10 deep along the fence at Dawson Park to see him live.

"To align our feature event and carnival with Brother Fox is a no brainer, he epitomises the best of the best and inspires local greatness."  

The Dubbo club has announced a major stakes increase to align with the renaming of the event with winning connections of the Ladbrokes Brother Fox to take home a cool $40,000  – up $15,000 on last year's Dubbo Cup.

"The club is always looking to improve and go from strength to strength,” Stiff said.

“We have focused on ensuring racing infrastructure is routinely improved for the welfare of our dogs and at the same time build new family friendly  amenities for patrons. This is the next step that shows we are going places.

"We are fortunate to have a great partner in Ladbrokes to achieve improvements for participants as well as the support of Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW) and local MP, Dugald Saunders.  

"It's that support which allows us to reinvestment in the club with stake money increases like the ones we are announcing today.”

While the Ladbrokes Brother Fox will highlight the May carnival of racing at Dubbo, a number of attractive support races will be staged also.

"We will be running the Bill & Peg Miller Cup (0-2 wins) 516m event which will  now carry $10,000-to-the-winner and the Ladbrokes Red Dog (605m) which will be city class," Stiff added.

Heats of the Brother Fox and Bill & Peg Miller will be run on Saturday, May 22, with the final on Friday, May 28, aligning with the Ladbrokes Brother Fox.

It all makes for an exciting week in Dubbo, with the NRL hosting the Panthers/Rabbitohs clash on Sunday, May 23 at Apex Oval.

A proud Steve Kavanagh said it was a huge honour for Brother Fox to be remembered in such a way by the Dubbo club.

"Brother Fox was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2013 and this is as big of an honour as that night," Kavanagh said.  

"He was my best mate, we travelled everywhere and people just loved him." 

Ladbrokes Australia CEO, Dean Shannon, said the move was a fantastic step for the regional  centre.  

"Dubbo GRC has proven to be a very proactive and forward-thinking club and the move to  formally recognise one of the sport's champions in this manner underlines that point,"  Shannon said. 

"Ladbrokes Australia is proud of its long-running association with Dubbo GRC and welcomes  any initiative which drives engagement and increases returns to participants."