AGRA Greyhound Of The Year Awards

At a gala AGRA Awards night held on the infield of the Cannington race Complex in West Australia the Australian Greyhound Racing Association last night announced Cindeen Shelby the winner of the 2009 AGRA .

It was a night of nights on the National scene with Delegates and club members coming together from all over Australia to celebrate the AGRA Awards night with all the stars under stars.

Hosted by GreyhoundsWA the association's team is led by CEO David Simonette and Chairman Pat Tassell. They staged a unique and glittering affair out in the open and have certainly set the bench mark for the other states to follow in the years to come.

Victorian trained and New South Wales owned sprint dynamo Cindeen Shelby won the Greyhound the Year from fellow Victorian sprinter El Galo and stayer Amity Bale.

The winner was selected by panel of judges consisted of administrators and media representatives from each state and a group of national media representatives from Print, Radio and Television.

The panel was asked to allocate votes 3, 2 and 1 to the three finalists in order of each judge's preference in a secret vote.

Accepting the award from Sky Channels Peter Davis owner Michelle Parkinson and trainer Jackie Greenough expressed what a thrill it was to be judged the winner against such outstanding competition and acknowledged the achievements of El Galo and Amity Bale.

“It has been such a fantastic year, to race Cindeen Shelby was brilliant for us I think she disserved to win, she is a great little chaser who always gives her all. I'd like to congratulate both Kelvyn and Jackie Greenough for the wonderful job they done with “Shelby” all year. Jackie Greenough also expressed what a pleasure it was to look after a bitch as talented as Cindeen Shelby who she described as the “perfect” greyhound in every way possible. Hard chasing, placid and a fantastic kennel dog.

Listed below are Cindeen Shelby achievements during 2009.

    CINDEEN SHELBY
  • (August 2006 Fawn Bitch Bombastic Shiraz-Proper Shelby)
  • Race starts: 22 – 13 wins, 5 seconds, 1 third
  • Owner: Raymond Parkinson (Salt Ash, NSW)
  • Trainer: Kelvyn Greenough (Pearcedale)
  • Winner: Group 1 ; Group 1 Topgun; Group 1 Crown Classic; Group 2 Black Top
  • Finalist: Group 1 Winter Carnival Cup (4th); Group 1 Brisbane Cup (8th)
  • Total Career Prizemoney: $383,700

The previous winners of the AGRA Australian Greyhound of the Year are 2002 Boomeroo, 2003 Bombastic Shiraz, 2004 , 2005 Pure Octane, 2006 Betty's Angel, 2007 Flashing Floods and 2008 El Galo .

Earlier in the night under the guidance of local M.C Tim Gossage AGRA announced the other award winners in the following categories.

    2009 Brood Bitch of the Year was Thai Again
  • Peter Davis accepted the award on behalf of New South Wales breeder .
    Thai Again with 41points won from Al Fresco 38 and 36
    2009 Sire of the Year was Bombastic Shiraz
  • Owner David Cairns accepted the award from Sandown Chairman Geoff Dawson.
    Bombastic Shiraz won with 1432 points from Collision 965 and Cool 832.
    2009 Run of the Year went to Turanza Bale for his outstanding performance breaking the Meadows record in the Silver Bullet.
  • Trainer Graeme Bate accepted the award from AGRA Publicity Officer Neil Brown.
    The Run Of the Year was determined from the 12 runs of the month, then by a panel consisting of John Brasch (Qld), Peter O'Neil (WA), Peter Smith (SA), Peter Hayes (Tas), Michael Radley (NSW) and Neil Brown in Victoria. They were encouraged to enlist who ever they saw fit to offer an opinion then cast their state's nomination.
    2009 Trainer of the Year was Graeme Bate
  • On hand to accept the award from AGRA President Pat Tassell a delighted Graeme Bate acknowledged what a wonderful year he had and thanked his staff stating the award was one of the highlights of his 40 plus years as a trainer.
    The Victorian mentor had a fantastic year all around Australia winning group races and enjoyed tremendous success with his top line kennel stars , Amity Bale and Jarvis Bale to name but a few.
    The trainer of year is determined after nominations are put forward to the AGRA CEO's who cast votes at a meeting held in January.
    The panel take into account a number of different aspects of the training side of things it included. Group wins, and finalists, state city wins, number of runners and dogs in work, percentage per runners ect.

The final awards of the evening were induction of members into the AGRA Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame Inductees were as follows:

  • Female Greyhound Based on Breeding Performance- (VIC)
  • Male Greyhound Based on Breeding Performance- Black Top (NSW)
  • Administrators – Jack Nelson (TAS), Henry Harrison (VIC), Vic Peters (NSW).
  • Associates – Frank Kennedy (NSW) Services to Media, Jim Gannon (VIC) Services to the Greyhound Veterinarian Industry

The presentation to the inductees and their acceptors was as always an emotional one with many family members and friends flying thousands of kilometers to honour the very worthy new members of the AGRA Hall of Fame.

It concluded a fantastic night which is sure to be repeated next year. The awards night rotates from state to state and takes place in March each year coinciding with AGRA's Bi-Annual Meeting and Conference.

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