For only the third time in its 61-year history, the annual NSW Greyhound of the Year title has been shared, with judges unable to split two of the three finalists.
Since its inception in 1965, only on two previous occasions have the judging panel been split and awarded two finalists the coveted title, the first time in 1966 when Roman Earl and Rose Moss shared the award, and then not again until 2013 when they were unable to decide between Double Twist and Jagger Swagger.
On Wednesday night at gala function in Sydney, Power And Glory and Sooty Keeping were announced as joint winners of the 2025 Greyhound of the Year.
“Congratulations to the connections of both Sooty Keeping and Power And Glory in sharing the Ladbrokes Greyhound of the Year award,” Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW) Chief Executive Officer Steve Griffin said. “I am never envious of the judging panel for these awards, and with this result you can understand why.
“It was impossible to split the pair of winners – Power And Glory who won our two biggest events, the Ladbrokes Golden Easter Egg and the Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase, and Sooty Keeping who was consistently a star performer at the elite level of racing.
“I completely understand why in the end they couldn’t be split and I thank our expert panel for their time and effort in coming up with this eventual decision, one which I think we all agree is the correct one.
“Nights like these are very important for the industry to recognise and celebrate the outstanding human and animal performances and achievements from the previous year, and I want to congratulate all winners on the night.
“We have seen what an exciting year 2025 and I can assure you 2026 promises to be even bigger for our sport.”
In 2025 Ken Burnett’s Power And Glory captured the two premier events on the NSW calendar, the Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase in October following his victory in the Ladbrokes Golden Easter Egg in April.
Power And Glory set new race records in both the MDC Final and the Egg decider, coincidentally clocking identical times in both – 29.15s.
From 11 NSW starts Power And Glory won on seven occasions and amassed $1.334,830 in prizemoney.
Sooty Keeping from the Dubbo kennels of Charmaine Roberts, recorded an amazing 18 wins and four placings from 28 NSW starts in 2025.
During the year Sooty Keeping appeared in 13 Group finals, winning four of those – the Group 1 Paul Wheeler, the Group 2 Richmond Oaks, the Group 2 Nowra Puppy Classic, and the Group 1 Flying Amy in Queensland. She also won the NSW final of the National Sprint Championship.
Sooty Keeping compiled $241,430 in prizemoney for her connections during 2025.
For a second year in a row, the NSW Trainer of the Year went to Melinda Finn whose team won 217 races and were placed another 307 times, collecting just shy of $1 million in prizemoney during the year. Her major wins in 2025 were May’s edition of the Group 2 Brother Fox Final at Dubbo and the Group 2 Gosford Gold Cup, both with Gets Late Early.
Jodie Lord was once again the winner of the Metropolitan Trainer of the Year award. Jodie won the award in 2024, her husband Andy took out the title in 2023, with Jodie crowned Metropolitan Trainer of the Year in the previous three years.
In 2025 Jodie Lord won 85 races at Wentworth Park to go with another 72 across NSW.
While the Lord kennel didn’t win a Group 1 in 2025, their greyhounds were runner-up in the Paul Wheeler (Taormina), the National Futurity (Taormina), and the National Derby (Happy Bandit).
Both Melinda and Jodie were awarded the 100 Club Award for training over 100 NSW winners during 2024 along with Jason Magri, Peter Lagogiane, David Smith, Courtney Barnes, Graham Pickering and Clint Colaiacovo.
One of the sport’s all-time greats, the 2015 NSW Greyhound of the Year, Fernando Bale, continued his dominance at stud winning a sixth successive Sire of the Year award. In 2025, in NSW, his progeny had 1,878 wins and more than 3,600 placings, amassing $6.9 million in prizemoney.
Among Fernando Bale’s NSW feature race winners in 2025 were Laura Keeping (Group 1 National Futurity), Gus The Jet (Group 1 Vic Peters), Good Odds Cobber (Group 2 Bulli Gold Cup), Speedy Pie (Group 2 Brother Fox- November), and He’s A Bandit (GRNSW Puppy Classic).
Going back-to-back in the Dam of the Year category was former champion stayer and 2018 Greyhound of the Year Poco Dorado.
During 2025 Poco Dorado’s progeny won 80 NSW races and amassed more than $450,000 in prizemoney, with her daughter Gets Late Early again one of the standouts winning the Group 2 Brother Fox in May and the Group 2 Gosford Gold Cup.
Broodbitches Pa’s Girl, Blue Bronte, Sassy Ethics, She’s A Gem, and Ritza Millie were each awarded Breeding Excellence Awards.
Hayley Searl took out the Young Achiever of the Year award, the Greyhounds As Pets Volunteer of the Year went to Patrick Tremble, the GRNSW Volunteer of the Year was taken out by Andrew Brett, while Northern Rivers trainer Mitch Northfield was awarded the 2025 Distinguished Services Award.
Like the 2025 Greyhound of the Year title, the prestigious Allen Wheeler Medal was also shared with leading veterinarians Linda Corney and Peter Yore the joint winners.
