News
15 July, 2026
Greyhound Racing’s New Era is here
By design, The Maturity Classic’s race conditions are set up to eliminate the eligibility of some of the best dogs in the country and offer an opportunity for the sport’s up and comers to take the next step.
This year? Not so much.
The 2026 edition of the age-restricted classic is set to be an absolute barn burner with established group racing stars including Off The Chart, Dramatical, Canya Excite Me and Wrongly Accused (feels weird to type) joined by the likes of next generation rockets Blink and Miss, Canya Talk Now, Dewana Family and Dustin.
Interstate representation has also risen for the $100,000 feature with recent G1 Vic Peters winner, Grant Keeping, alongside the likes of Pound Keeping, Victa Krev, Master McGraw and many others.
Click Here for this Saturday’s fields
Will this year’s crop go down as one of the greatest ever? It faces some stiff competition.
In this writer’s opinion, the strongest Maturity Classic field assembled in recent memory was the 2020 edition won by Simon Told Helen.
Run and won in an era where the handlers wore masks, the late, great Simon Told Helen demolished the field in a show of “absolutely brutal speed” defeating the likes of Tiggerlong Tonk, Hard Style Rico, Shima Shine & Christo Bale in a race for the ages.
Simon Told Helen (3) beats four other eventual G1 winners in a Maturity for the ages
The Maturity Classic, first run in 1970, boasts arguably the strongest honour roll in the sport; name a superstar of a bygone era and the chances are that they won it. Think Temlee, Brett Lee, Fernando Bale, Wow She’s Fast.
On Fernando Bale, how about his race record performance in 2015, the second split (17.37) is a record that still stands some 4,008 days later – but will that be under threat from this year’s crop?
Fernando Bale’s record breaking 2015 Maturity win
Off The Chart is inarguably the headline act when it comes to back splits (17.46 at start #6) but can he get down even lower? or can Wrongly Accused improve on his blistering 17.53 performance from just over a week ago?
No matter your opinion on how this year’s edition stacks up historically, Saturday night is a night not to be missed.
Saturday night sees greyhound racing coverage as you haven’t seen it before – tune in on The Watchdog App from Race 1 onwards