If you have never experienced the excitement of live racing, then Tuesday, February 24 is the night for you.

The stadium will be giving free entry to everyone for the final of our top race of the year – the Ladbrokes Golden Jacket.

The Jacket carries a winner’s prize of £17,500 and is one of the top prize money races in the greyhound sporting calendar. Run over our marathon distance of 714m, it will attract the best from around the country and Ireland.

The 36 dogs that start will compete here in the six first round heats on Saturday, February 14 followed by the semi-finals on Thursday, February 19. This event takes some winning but even more so this year with the dogs racing three times over the distance in 10 days.

The February 24 final will also be broadcast live on Sky, so we will have their outside broadcast crew doing interviews with the greyhounds’ trainers and connections during the eight scheduled live Sky races.

I will be giving a full preview of the race as the build-up starts early next month but this date is definitely one for your diary so why not take advantage of the free admission? I guarantee that once you have experienced this sort of night, you will want to come back.

In the meantime, there is plenty of excitement to be had with our graded race cards and our trainers will be hoping we may have among the ranks a few lively contenders to represent the track in the Jacket.

Stunning Harvey is one of our most popular top dogs over 714m and never seems to run a bad race.

Now a veteran with 72 races to his name, he continues to put in good performances – the latest at the weekend when beaten by just a quarter of a length by newcomer Painted Craft.

Harvey has won six races over 714m, including open events and he would be a likely starter for us. In contrast, Painted Craft had her first career race in mid-August and has only had 12 to date, the last four here over 714m.She has caught the eye with two wins a second and third-place finish and may also figure among the home runners.

Others to consider are Miss Model, Forthill Storm and Nellie Attack. Follow this column for the build-up to a great local night out.