The Australian Greyhound of the Year is selected by a media and administration panel from all over Australia. The Award was presented on special editions of the Sky Channel weekly greyhound programme, The Catching Pen, from 2002 to 2006. The 2006 Award (presented in 2007) was hosted at The Meadows by the Melbourne Greyhound Racing Association and the 2007 Award (persented in 2008) was hosted at Sandown by the Sandown Greyhound Racing Club.
The Australian Greyhound Racing Association then determined that the Greyhound Of The Year Award was to become a premier presentation night and a focal point for recognition of excellence from a National perspective.
The 2008 Australian Greyhound of the Year was presented in April 2009 at a gala function at the Sheraton on the Park in Sydney, NSW. The 2009 Australian Greyhound of the Year was hosted On March 12, 2010 by the Western Australian Greyhound Assocation (WAGRA) at Cannington and the 2010 Australian Greyhound of the Year will be hosted in 2011 by Greyhound Racing South Australia in Adelaide.
In 2012 the Greyhound of the Year was hosted by the Brisbane Greyhound Racing Club.
In a change of direction in 2013 the Meadows hosted the last of the awards to held on a calendar year and again hosted the 2012-2013 Awards in August. In 2013-2014 the Awards were hosted at the Esplanade Hotel in Fremantle West Australia. In 2015-2016 the Awards Night held at the InterContinental Hotel in Adelaide South Australia. In 2016-2017 the Awards night moved to Park Royal Hotel on the banks of the Brisbane River in Queensland. With this year’s Awards night making it back to Melbourne to the Langham Hotel and hosted for the first time since 2007 by the Sandown Club. In 2018-2019 a change was made when NSW were unable to stage the Nationals Western Australia stepped forward a year and staged an outstanding event over three days in Perth. The inclusion for first time since one year in the 80’s of New Zealand made the event an international affair and the fore runner for years to come.
The inaugural Australian Greyhound of the Year was Boomeroo. His success was followed by Bombastic Shiraz 2003, Whisky Assassin 2004,Pure Octane 2005, Betty’s Angel 2006,Flashing Floods 2007, El Galo in 2008, Cindeen Shelby 2009, El Grand Senor 2010, Dyna Tron 2011, Miata 2012, Miata 2012-2013, Xylia Allen 2013-2014,Fernando Bale 2014-2015, Dyna Double One 2015-2016, Fanta Bale 2016-2017, Fanta Bale 2017-2018, Orson Allen 2018-2019.
If you click on the links above it will give you a detailed description of the achievements of each winner in the particular year they won the award.