Dapto Greyhounds Club will run its last race in September. Photo: GRNSW.
After almost 89 years, Dapto Greyhound Club will host its final race on 11 September, bringing the curtain down on an iconic chapter in Australian greyhound racing.
While Greyhound Racing NSW’s (GRNSW) lease on the venue doesn’t expire until 30 June next year, a decision was made to stage the club’s last race meeting on Dapto’s night of night’s – the Ladbrokes Megastar.
GRNSW leases the dog track around the showground from Dapto Agricultural & Horticultural Society (AHS), where greyhound racing has been held since February 1937 and come to be known around the world as the “Dapto Dogs”.
However, it was previously reported the relationship between the two organisations was troubled for many years.
In May, GRNSW announced that come June 2026, greyhound racing would end at the “iconic Dapto venue”.
GRNSW CEO Steve Griffin said it had several discussions within and outside the organisation, as to the most appropriate time to stage its final Dapto race meeting.
“The overwhelming consensus is that to perfectly honour the venue, the lengthy history of the Dapto greyhounds, and their prestigious Group 1 feature event, that the night of the Ladbrokes Megastar would be the ideal opportunity to host the last ever meeting,” Mr Griffin said.
“There were proposals that we hold our final race meeting in February next year on the anniversary of the first greyhound race meeting at the site back in 1937, and another suggestion was we wait until the end of the lease and stage a major event in June next year.
“Ultimately, we believe that the night of the Megastar will be the perfect time to celebrate Dapto Greyhounds and pull the curtain down on the venue, with their premier event – one of the elite races on the racing calendar – and with the eyes of the greyhound racing world on it.
“We have worked with, and thank the Dapto Agricultural & Horticultural Society for allowing us to stage our final race meeting on Megastar night.”
Dapto AHS CEO Katrina Novak said it informed GRNSW it was supportive of any date chosen for the final race meet.
“They have certainly said they’ll commit to honouring their licence agreement that’s in place till the end of June,” Ms Novak said.
She said the society would face a huge task once GRNSW vacated the site, as the agreement meant they would be left to dispose of the sand, track and associated infrastructure.
“That will be a big task. There’ll be lots of planning for us over the next number of months,” she said.
“In terms of them leaving, we hope to be involved with the Megastar, and the final night.
“The A&H operated it until 2019 and the club was built on many volunteers and people that worked tirelessly over many decades, many of which have passed away now.
“So there’ll be a lot of sadness, but also a lot to celebrate on the 11th of September.”
She said although the Dapto club was a tenant, the society had continued progressing its long-term plans for The Groundz Precinct, based on its previous understanding land was purchased at West Dapto for a future relocation – a move the society supported by granting extensions to assist with the transition.
Mr Griffin said racing and the sport’s South Coast participants would not be impacted by the decision to end racing at Dapto earlier than 30 June next year.
“We are very conscious of the popularity of the sport and the significant participant population in the South Coast region, and as such from the following Thursday night, 18 September, the Nowra club will be hosting a race meeting in that timeslot each week,” he said.
Since its inception in 2010, the Megastar has been one of the prized features on the NSW calendar, and since 2013 has had the status of the only Group 1 greyhound event in the state to be conducted at a racetrack outside of the Sydney metropolitan area.
It has been won by some of the stars of greyhound racing including Oaks Road (2011), Peter Rocket (2013), Good Odds Harada (2019), Flying Ricciardo (2020) and last year’s winner Good Odds Cobber.
“It will be a nostalgic and emotional night on 11 September,” he said.
“There is great history and lots of memories at Dapto, the venue that literally is known worldwide, and one which received incredible publicity during the 1990s through the Channel Nine Footy Show, and courtesy of one of the industry’s greatest supporters, the late Terry Hill.
“We don’t want the night to be a melancholy occasion.
“I’m sure there will be tears, but we want the night to be a celebration of the Dapto club and everyone who has been associated with it over its long history.”
He said they were in the process of putting together off-track plans for the night where “attendees could take their own little memento of Dapto greyhounds perhaps with some sand from the track”.
They were also looking at auctioning the Dapto winning post with proceeds to go to charity.
A number of the 17 casual staff employed by the Dapto club will have access to further casual employment at Nowra, while the track’s curator has been redeployed in the GRNSW track team.
Ladbrokes Megastar will be held at the Dapto Showground on 11 September.
