Grading & Nominations

Grading Policy

RQ Grading Procedures

Grading Enquiries

Grading enquiries can be made via email at grading@racingqueensland.com.au

New Grading Procedures

Racing Queensland advises upcoming changes to the Grading Procedures for all Queensland greyhound race meetings. Ozchase system changes will be implemented on Saturday 22 March. 

Race meetings up to and including Tuesday 25 March will be drawn this week and graded under the existing grading procedures.

Race meetings from Wednesday 26 March will be drawn next week and graded under the new grading procedures.

The new grading procedures document can be read here.

Summary Of Changes

• New terminology for some race events.
• New track classes.
• New grading concessions for Provincial and Straight meetings.
• New methodology for Dropping a Grade.
• Amendments to Upgrading Rules.
• Introduction of a Re-Grade to transition all greyhound grades from the existing grading procedures to the new grading procedures.
• Race eligibility criteria for race meetings at The Q.

A detailed explanation of the changes is provided below:

Definitions

• Free For All terminology will now be used instead of Best 8, meaning an event for any greyhound Grade 3 or higher.
• Open terminology will now be used instead of Free For All, meaning an event open to all greyhounds.
• Grade 6 terminology will now be used instead of Novice. For historical results, a greyhound’s first win after maiden (or maiden series) will be deemed a Grade 6 win.
• Grade 6 greyhounds will not be eligible to enter Grade 5 events.

Track Class

• New track classes have been developed to cater for race meetings at all venues in Queensland. The purpose of the new track classes is to cater for City class meetings at both Q1 Lakeside and Q2 Parklands.
• The new track classes are as follows:
  • City 1 (one turn) – City meetings at Q1 Lakeside.
  • City 2 (two turn) – City meetings at Q2 Parklands and Albion Park.
  • Provincial – all non-City race meetings at Q1 Lakeside, Q2 Parklands, Ipswich, Albion Park.
  • Country – all meetings at Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Townsville.
  • Straight – all Straight race meetings at Q Straight and Capalaba.
• Race meetings at Ipswich and Albion Park will be gradually transitioned to The Q in the coming months. During the transition phase, race meetings at Ipswich and Albion Park will use the new track classes. Albion Park Thursday will be a City 2 meeting. All other meetings at Ipswich and Albion Park will be Provincial meetings.
• Interstate track classes have also been updated to align with the new track classes.

Grading Concessions

• Greyhounds will be permitted to win two Grade 5 penalty events within a distance category at City 1 race meetings.
• Greyhounds will be permitted to win two Grade 5 penalty events within a distance category at City 2 race meetings.
• Greyhounds will be permitted to win four Grade 5 penalty events within a distance category at Provincial race meetings.
• Greyhounds will be permitted to win two Grade 5 penalty events and two Grade 4 penalty events within a distance category at Country race meetings.
• Greyhounds will be permitted to win four Grade 5 penalty events within a distance category at Straight race meetings.

Dropping a Grade

• Greyhounds will drop a grade after 3 unplaced performances within a particular class and distance category in penalty bearing events. 
• Greyhounds 42 months and older will drop a grade following two unplaced performances in Grade 1, 2, and 3 in penalty bearing events.

Upgrading Rules

• Upgrading rules are not applicable to Maiden, Grade 6, and Pathways events.
• When City 1 race meetings commence on Q1 Lakeside, greyhounds with five applicable Class 1 wins within a class and distance category will be upgraded to Grade 4.
• Refer to the Grading Procedures for all amendments to Upgrading Rules.

Re-Grade

• All greyhounds will be re-graded under the new grading procedures.
• The re-grade will translate performances from the existing track class structure to the new track class structure as follows:
  • Class 1 performances will be translated to City 2 Class.
  • Class 2 and Class 3 performances will be translated to Provincial Class.
  • Class 4 Bundaberg performances will be translated to Country Class for upgrading purposes only. Grading rules for Maiden and Grade 6 will apply for Bundaberg win.
  • Class 5 performances will be translated to Straight Class.
  • Class 6 performances will be translated to Country Class.
• For example, a greyhound that has won 2x Grade 5 Class 2 Sprints, and 2x Grade 5 Class 3 Sprints, will be Grade 4 for a Provincial Sprint.  

Eligibility

• An indefinite condition of nomination will be introduced, requiring a greyhound nominated for an event at The Q to have successfully trialled out of the starting boxes to the satisfaction of QRIC stewards and/or QGRC officials, at the specific track it is to be nominated for (Q1, Q2 and/or Q Straight). A satisfactory pre-nomination trial at The Q requires that a greyhound completes the following:

  1) Jumps from a starting box approved by QRIC stewards and/or QGRC officials;

  2) Runs past the finishing post; and

  3) Enters the catching pen.

• If a greyhound has successfully trialled at only Q1 Lakeside, it is only eligible to be nominated for and compete in an event at Q1 Lakeside.
• Certain events may be exempt from this condition at RQ’s sole discretion.

 

Changes To Online Nominating Process

Racing Queensland advises upcoming changes to the online nomination process for all Queensland Greyhound race meetings. The changes will take effect from Wednesday, January 15, 2025, onwards.

Summary Of Changes

• Removal of class/distance nominations
• Addition of all race events to the race event drop drown box
• Removal of comments box
• Addition of eligibility criteria for Pathways racing and Preferential Box Draw racing
• Early race requests to be made with QRIC Stewards

Full detail regarding the changes is provided below to assist participants with the new nominating process.

Participants requiring assistance to nominate online can contact the Graders by email grading@racingqueensland.com.au or phone on 1800 851 155.

The Grading Procedures have been amended to reflect changes in the online nomination process.

Nominating a Greyhound

• All nominations are required to be submitted online via Ozchase prior to the advertised close of nominations for each race meeting. 
• All advertised race events will be provided in the race event drop down list for each race meeting.
• For every nomination, the nominator is required to choose a race event from the race event drop down list. It is the responsibility of the nominator to check the race program and nominate accordingly. The nominator will not be permitted to nominate for race events that aren’t advertised.
• The greyhound will only be considered for the race event which is selected by the nominator. It is responsibility of the nominator to submit additional preferences if the greyhound is to be considered for multiple race events, including if the greyhound has been nominated for a feature event.

Graded Races

• Ozchase functionality for class/distance nominations has been removed.
• To nominate for a standard graded event, the nominator will have the option to select “Graded 1,2,3,4,5” or “Graded 1,2,3,4” from the race event drop down list. Note - Greyhounds nominated for a graded event will be graded into single grade events or mixed grade events as per the grading procedures. Nominating for “Graded 1,2,3,4,5” does not mean that grades 1,2,3,4,5 will be combined into one race.
• When 5th Grade Heats are programmed, all Grade 5 greyhounds will only have the option to nominate for the heats. Nominations for a graded race will be given the option to select “Graded 1,2,3,4” in the race events drop down list.

Nomination Comment Box

• The comment box will no longer be available when nominating.
• The nominator can submit multiple preferences for each greyhound using the race event drop-down list.
• All greyhounds will be graded as per the nomination submitted and the grading procedures.
• Trainers are not permitted to make conditional nominations (eg. leave out if can’t split). 

Masters age drop back

• The Ozchase system will not automatically detect if a masters age greyhound is eligible for a drop back.
• If your Masters greyhound is grade 4 and is eligible for a drop in grade under the grading procedures, the grading team will manually drop the grade of the greyhound and try the greyhound for all races that it is eligible for including any masters events if they are programmed.
• The nominator can email the grading team at grading@racingqueensland.com.au prior to the close of nominations if the greyhound is only to be considered for a masters event.

Eligibility Criteria for Pathways Racing and PBD Racing

• Eligibility criteria has been built into the Ozchase system for Pathways racing and Preferential Box Draw racing.
• For Pathways racing, the system will check the greyhound’s eligibility before accepting the nomination.
• For Preferential Box Draw racing, the system will check that the greyhound has started at the track/distance and require the nominator to select an early race trait the first time that the greyhound is nominated for a preferential box draw race.

Early Race Requests

• If a greyhound consistently requires an early race due to the greyhound’s behaviour, the trainer can submit an early race request application to the Stewards.
• The early race request application will be assessed by the Stewards and the race day Veterinarian.   
• Regardless of an approval for an early race, in some circumstances it may not be possible for an approved greyhound to be granted an early race.
• Any other reasonable request for an early race must be made in writing to the Grading Department prior to the close of nominations for the race meeting.

 

Grading Schedule from 1 May 2022

The meetings shown below will be graded in the order in which they appear.

Nomination Day and Closing Time	Race Day and Venue	Meeting Timeslot	Scratching Closing Time	Meeting Class
Monday 9.00am	Albion Park Wednesday	Twilight	8am	Class 2
	Capalaba Wednesday (Fortnightly)	Day	8am (Day Before)	Class 5
	Albion Park Thursday	Night	8am	Class 1
Tuesday 9.00am	Ipswich Thursday	Day	8am (Day Before)	Class 3
	Ipswich Friday	Twilight	8am	Class 3
Wednesday 9.00am	Townsville Friday	Day	8am (Day Before)	Class 6
	Ipswich Saturday	Night	8am	Class 2
	Albion Park Sunday	Twilight	8am	Class 3
Thursday 9.00am	Capalaba Sunday	Day	8am (Day Before)	Class 5
	Bundaberg Monday	Day	8am (Day Before)	Class 4
	Albion Park Monday	Night	8am	Class 2
Friday 9.00am	Ipswich Tuesday	Twilight	8am	Class 3
	Townsville Tuesday	Night	8am	Class 6
	Rockhampton Wednesday	Night	8am	Class 6

Nominations

All nominations must be submitted online via OzChase.

Online: OzChase

 OzChase online nominations user guide

Please note: nominations via any other method will not be accepted

 

Scratchings

Scratchings are to be submitted online via OzChase.

Scratchings close with Racing Queensland at 8am on the day of the race meeting except:

• Capalaba Wednesday closes at 8am on Tuesday morning
• Ipswich Thursday closes at 8am on Wednesday morning
• Townsville Friday closes at 8am on Thursday morning
• Capalaba Sunday closes at 8am on Saturday morning
• Bundaberg Monday closes at 8am on Sunday morning

Late scratchings (after 8am) are processed by QRIC race day stewards. To make a late scratching, please call the stewards on 07 3087 9002.