Ahead of the club’s first feature races of 2015, we’re taking a look back the remarkable racing year that was 2014.
The club ran a total of 1244 races from 104 race meetings during the calendar year. Unsurprisingly, the 515m trip was the most popular race distance with 920 races (74%) conducted. There were 240 races (19%) conducted over 595m, with the remaining 84 races (7%) conducted over the 715m journey.
Of the 2311 individual greyhounds that lined up on the track in 2014 (comprising 9638 starters), 719 (31%) won a race, while 1300 (56%) won a share of the more than $8.5m in prize money distributed during the year.
Thanks to a win in the world’s richest greyhound race, Dyna Villa heads the list of Sandown money winners with $453,815, well clear of dual Sandown Group 1 winner Sweet It Is with $342,870. In all, six greyhounds earned more than $100,000 from Sandown Park for their connections, 15 greyhounds earned more than $50,000, and 223 at least $10,000.
Predictably, box 1 provided the most winners for the year from the 515m (169 winners, or just over 18%) and 595m (38 winners, or 16%) however box 6 provided the most winners over the 715m trip (16, or 19%).
Box 7 provided the fewest number of winners over 515m (75, or 8%), box 3 over the 595m (23, or 9.5%), and box 4 over the 715m (6, or 7%).
The average time for a sprint win on Thursday night was 29.64, around three and a half lengths faster than the average winning time on a Sunday (29.82). interestingly, it was a similar difference in margins between Sunday and Thursday over each distance (595m – 34.33 on a Thursday, 34.57 on a Sunday; 715m – 42.09 on a Thursday, 42.30 on a Sunday).
My Bro Fabio recorded the fastest sprint time of the year, powering to a brilliant 29.09 gallop in a TAB Melbourne Cup Prelude. Xylia Allen, known for both her sprinting and staying prowess, recorded the fastest time over the 595m distance when she ran 33.79 in February, while Sweet It Is blitzed her rivals with a stunning 41.46 second win on 30 October.
There were 756 trainers who raced their greyhounds at Sandown Park during the year with 281 (37%) winning a race, and another 180 (61% in total) trainers running a place.
Melbourne Cup winning trainer Jenny Hunt just fell short of the $1m prize money mark, finishing 2014 with $947,183 in prize money earned at Sandown Park by greyhounds in her care. Twelve trainers cracked the $100,000 mark for prize money earned, while earned more than $50,000.
Hunt also recorded the most winners for the year with 94, narrowly edging Andrea Dailly with 92. The Britton family had an outstanding year, with Jeff (83), Robert (58) and Angela Langton (41) filling positions 3-5 on the premiership and combing for 182 winners for the year.
In terms of strike rates, Joe Borg led the way with his small team of chasers, winning 27% of races in which he had a starter. Jeff Britton, Kelly Bravo, Darren McDonald, David Crawford and Brooke Ennis also excelled, winning a quarter of their races.
Click here for replays of each Sandown Park feature in 2014.
2014 Sandown feature event winners
| Status | Race | Distance | Winner | Trainer |
| Listed | Maidment Memorial | 595m | Bookkeeper | Glenn Dainton |
| Listed | Australian Sprint | 515m | Speed Series | Glenn Campbell |
| Group 2 | Launching Pad | 515m | Wynburn Wizard | Scott Bryan |
| Listed | Easter Gift | 515m | Bazza’s Gift | Neil Bell |
| Listed | Bill Collins Memorial | 515m | Hooksy | Tanya Auld |
| Group 3 | Bert Bryant Memorial | 595m | Musquin Bale | Andrea Dailly |
| Group 3 | The Lizrene | 715m | Rocky Bale | Jenny Hunt |
| Group 1 | Sapphire Crown | 515m | Oakvale Destiny | Jeff Britton |
| Group 2 | Harrison Dawson | 515m | Awesome Project | Darren McDonald |
| Listed | Cup Night Sprint | 515m | Awesome Project | Darren McDonald |
| Listed | Cup Night Stayers | 715m | Xylia Allen | Jenny Hunt |
| Group 1 | Sandown Cup | 715m | Sweet It Is | Darren McDonald |
| Group 2 | McKenna Memorial | 595m | Xylia Allen | Jenny Hunt |
| Group 2 | Shootout | 515m | Iva Vision | Peter Young |
| Listed | Cup Night Sprint | 515m | Hostile | Darren Beasley |
| Group 1 | Bold Trease | 715m | Sweet It Is | Darren McDonald |
| Listed | Cup Night Middle Distance | 595m | Oscura | Brooke Ennis |
| Group 1 | Melbourne Cup | 515m | Dyna Villa | Jenny Hunt |
| Group 3 | Sir John Dillon Memorial | 595m | Lamia Bale | Steve Collins |
| Group 2 | Laurels | 515m | Lamia Bale | Steve Collins |
