Adrian Molloy Aims To Put Million Dollar Chase On Par With Melbourne Cup

In the second episode of ‘The Knowledge’ Podcast Series brought to you by Gambling.com, Wagering Manager at Greyhound Racing New South Wales, Adrian Molloy, speaks of his aspirations for the Million Dollar Chase to become Greyhound Racing’s equivalent of the Melbourne Cup - an event Molloy has fond memories of:

“When you grew up, you grew up with this massive aura around the Melbourne Cup…and it was just one of those things, it literally captured the nation.”

Traditionally from a horse racing background, Molloy’s attention is now firmly fixed on growing Australian Greyhound Racing. Part of this plan – like the Melbourne Cup - requires attracting participants from around the world:

“I think there’s what 9 or 10 countries in the world that have greyhound racing. There’s obviously the English Derby and the Irish Derby [which] would be the two races that we would target the winners of and yeah, subsidising the transportation costs.”

“One thing we certainly know about the Irish is that they love to travel, and they love to party and I’m pretty sure they’d love it if they came down to Sydney and got to participate in the Million Dollar Chase”

A lot of thought has gone into making the Million Dollar Chase more accessible and attractive for new fans. Molloy believes that hosting a top-notch weekend of racing in the build up to the Melbourne Cup could well help to achieve his goal:

“This year we’ve actually timed it that our pinnacle race, the Million Dollar Chase, is on a Friday night, the next day at Randwick is the Everest and at the same time that day in Melbourne is the Caulfield Cup.

“We’re basically creating this wonderful weekend of racing… It’s a celebration of racing across all codes”.

There’s no denying the impact Winx has had on attracting International audiences towards Australian horse racing, but from a Greyhound point of view, there’s one dog who Molloy feels could resonate particularly well with the public:

“We’ve got a greyhound at the moment called Feral Franky that’s in the Million Dollar Chase.”

“Imagine a name like Feral Franky, straight away it resonates with people. They go, Feral Franky, what a legend. And he’s actually a really, really good dog.”

Molloy faces many challenges in his role and aside from growing the Million Dollar Chase, another is making greyhound racing generally more attractive to the public, where part of his strategy could potentially include taking dogs away from the track:

“There are lots of beautiful beaches. Is there potential there? Most of the tracks in Australia are already sand based. We’re thinking outside the square and I know that there are people thinking of racing thoroughbreds through cities.”

“Maybe seeing greyhounds dashing down towards Buckingham Palace, or through the beautiful streets of Dublin… We’ve obviously got something in Sydney called the Sydney Harbour Bridge very iconic the big coat hanger, I’d love nothing more than to see greyhounds flying across that.”

There’s no doubt that Adrian Molloy has a huge task on his hands in getting Australian Greyhound Racing the recognition he feels it deserves, but with fresh ideas, great ambitions and a passion for the dogs, is there a better man to take the sport to these new heights?

To hear Adrian Molloy’s thoughts on all the above and much more, listen to Episode two of ‘The Knowledge’ Podcast in full here