SIS greyhound chief Brankley excited about new GRI deal

Brankley hails SIS/GRI extension

Richard Brankley is optimistic about the future following yesterday’s announcement of SIS and Greyhound Racing Ireland extended their collaboration for a further three years.

The head of greyhound operations for SIS, Brankley has praised the ‘clear strategic vision’ of GRI and sees it as a big part of the long-term sustainability of racing.

Speaking to www.sisracing.tv, he said: “GRI demonstrates clear strategic vision by driving betting revenue where opportunities exist but essentially maintaining a presence in each local community through weekly Friday/Saturday night racing.

"It understands that to maintain social licence you must have social presence - and this is where there is a clear divide between racing in the UK and Ireland, and those who operate the tracks.

"With many tracks in Ireland still privately owned this is key to the long-term sustainability of racing.

"As such, SIS is delighted to have a full portfolio of tracks to call upon. By taking only one or two meetings per week from any single track and working with GRI to rotate meetings and taking a flexible approach to the number of races per meeting, the quality and competitiveness of racing has been excellent.

"Full field races are running at over 98% this year and the exposure given to Irish racing over recent years has cemented tracks as a familiar part of retail and online betting.

"The weekly Irish Focus round-up is the most popular feature on sisracing.tv and the availability of instant Irish results and replays on the site has been well received. We look forward to adding additional tracks to the schedule.”

The sisracing.tv website was launched last year and that led to a significant increase in Irish big-race coverage, with SIS broadcasting nine major Irish final nights from June 2024 until the end of the year, including every race in every round of the BoyleSports Irish Derby at Shelbourne Park.

That figure is set to increase to 19 for the whole of 2025 and it includes more than 40 competition-specific broadcasts in total. The next five Saturday will feature major Irish events from Shelbourne Park on SIS with coverage of the Corn Cuchulainn, Champion Stakes and Puppy Derby.

Thanks to this coverage, canine stars such as Irish Derby winner Bockos Diamond and runner-up Cheap Sandwiches were already well known in the UK when they travelled to Towcester for a crack at the English Derby.

SIS coverage of Irish greyhound racing is not just restricted to the main events and major tracks either, with the increased coverage taking in the whole of Ireland and racing from tracks big and small.