January will feature the third running of the popular Family Fun Days at South Australia’s four greyhound tracks – Angle Park, Gawler, Murray Bridge and Mount Gambier. And once again Greyhound Racing SA (GRSA) is keen for families to enjoy a fun day out at the track.

Last year the Mount Gambier Greyhound Racing Club (MGGRC) really turned it on for the families. In fact, Tara Raceway had never seen so many kids at one of its race days – making for a crowd worthy of a Mount Gambier Cup.

A bouncy castle, ice cream van, face painter and live music were all well received – and they’ll be back at Tara Raceway on Sunday, January 19.

Previously, the four tracks had all run a feature event on Family Fun Day. Angle Park’s was a $14,000 event while the other three tracks conducted $10,000 races.

Mount Gambier originally ran the Summer Classic – first conducted in 2015 – at the end of February. But with the age-restricted classic moving back a month to the fun day and with breeding numbers down, it was always going to struggle for nominations.

Recently the MGGRC opted to move the running of the Summer Classic and Winter Classic to May and November – in effect making them the Autumn Classic and the Spring Classic without altering the age qualifications.

Replacing the Summer Classic at the Family Fun Day will now be the Federal 600, a 600 metre heats and final open series carrying $6000 in prize money and acknowledging club sponsor the Federal Hotel of Mount Gambier.

However, one can only wonder why the MGGRC has been hit with a $4000 Family Fun Day pay cut simply for trying to shore up the future of its two classics.