The Golden Greys Summer Carnival goes to another level this Thursday night at The Q, highlighted by the running of the Group 1 Golden Sands, in what looks one of the more open deciders in years.
Boom NSW chaser Zipping Xaden – in the hands of new Queensland resident Michelle Sultana – was incredible in last week’s heat victory, and despite his final draw of six, still looks the greyhound to beat in the $100,000-to-the-winner final.
Track record holder Jay Walking continued his amazing start over the middle distance with a Best of Night 34.19 heat win and he looks the likely leader despite drawing box seven.
Interstate raiders contested well last week, including champion West Australian female Miss Envy, who has come up with box five in the final.
Scheduled for race eight (9.12pm local time), the Group 1 Golden Sands is complimented with four incredible four-dog battles to kick off the Group 2 Golden Ticket. The winners and runners’ up will go through to four two-dog match races, where the fastest greyhound takes home a cool $60,000 and a spot in February 5’s Gold Bullion, worth a whopping $250,000 to the winner.
We’ve had a look at the four Golden Ticket heats and we can’t wait!
Garrard’s Golden Ticket heat 1
Group 1 Flying Amy winner Sooty Keeping will look to atone for her fifth-placed effort at Q2 last start after an amazing finish to 2025. Despite the wide draw and the fantastic speed from Teresita (box one), Sooty will be very hard to beat.
Garrard’s Golden Ticket heat 2
Victorian Accredited comes here with a G1 win over 600 metres and a third-placed effort in the $1.65m Phoenix. He had no luck in a heat of the Golden Sands and he has proven to race well off wide draws. Dashing Jordy (box five) looks the likely leader, with Validate (box three) and Tempting Dash (box one) looking to be close enough to strike late.
Garrard’s Golden Ticket heat 3
Queenslander Pop’s Maestro (box five) gets a chance to give them something to chase here off box five, but he faces stiff interstate opposition. Irish Bill (box one) looks to be back in the form he showed to start his exciting career, while Vista Weird (box three) has recorded two sizzling wins on both Melbourne metro tracks recently. Throw in the sheer class of Star Turn (box seven), and you’ve got a cracking four-dog clash.
Garrard’s Golden Ticket heat 4
Melbourne Cup finalist Daysea’s Rory returned home and showed his class with a 29.55 win at Q2 and from box one he will be the greyhound to catch. His battle with reigning Garrard’s Derby winner Winsome Jet (box five) is one of the highlights of the night.
Want to know more about how the Golden Ticket works?
- First and second from each heat this Thursday qualify, with fastest third and second fastest third allocated as the reserves for the Group 2 Golden Ticket.
- The qualifying order is based on the times of those eight qualifiers, with the fastest time (Dog # 8) through to slowest time (Dog # 1).
- The four Golden Ticket match races on Jan 22 will see 1st fastest v 2nd fastest, 3rd fastest v 4th fastest, and so on…
- This Thursday night, a box draw on track will determine which dog comes out of box one and box three for each of the four match races.
- Overall winner is the dog that records the fastest finishing time of the match races on finals night on January 22 where they receive entry into the February 5 final of the Group 1 Gold Bullion.
Pops Maestro
Winsome Jet
Jay Walking