Greyhounds: bet365 Challenge Cup - All you need to know

There's a Christmas cracker for greyhound punters with the Category One bet365 Challenge Cup set to run at Oxford throughout the festive period.

It's a top-class competition held at the Cowley venue, with the event culminating with the £10,000 final on 23rd December.

What: bet365 Challenge Cup

Where: Oxford Stadium

When: Final - Friday 23rd December

How to watch: bet365 Greyhounds Live Streaming and live on RPGTV.

Odds: Havana Lover 10/3, Antigua Sugar 10/3, Savana Ruinart 10/3, Fifty Nine 12/1, Miss Big Pants 12/1, Work The Head 16/1

When is the bet365 Challenge Cup?

The final of the competition will take place at Oxford Stadium on Friday 23rd December 2022. The venue first held greyhound racing way back in 1939 and ran throughout until the closure of the track in 2012. That looked to have spelled the end of the Cowley venue, but it reopened amongst joyous scenes in April of this year.

Greyhound racing returned to Oxford Stadium in September, and a lively betting ring and top-class racing has seen it become a leading light amongst UK greyhound racing tracks.

Can I watch the bet365 Challenge Cup?

Yes, via the bet365 Greyhounds Live Streaming. It's also shown live on RPGTV. (Sky 437, Freesat 250, Freeview 264).

Who are the favourites for the bet365 Challenge Cup?

It has proved impossible to split the market leaders. Havana Lover, Antigua Sugar and Savana Ruinart have been priced up as the 10/3 co-favourites of three for the £10,000 Oxford competition.

Savana Ruinart showed excellent pace to lead the field, recording a 15.25sec split and powered clear to score by an impressive nine-and-a-quarter lengths over the 650m distance in her first-round heat. That early zip looks sure to serve Savana Ruinart well, as the event progresses, and it’s easy to see why she is at the head of the betting.

St Leger champ Havana Lover was rated a 1/6 chance for her first-round contest, but the Liz McNair-trained bitch had to settle for second place behind Kevin Hutton's Forest Roanna. However, there could be more to come from Havana Lover and she is another of the 10/3 co-favourites.

Antigua Sugar, sent off at 1/3, got the job done in a time of 40.11 to score by three-and-three-quarter lengths over Wota Swell Party. The Mark Wallis-trained runner is another of the trio of market leaders.

Antigua Sugar avoids her market rivals in the next round, having been drawn in trap five in the fourth quarter-final. Savana Ruinart has drawn trap four, outside of Chelms Chris in the white jacket, in the third quarter-final, which also contains Havana Lover out wide in six.

Who has won the bet365 Challenge Cup?

This is a new competition and therefore there are no previous winners.