Almost 4 million euro has been wagered in France on Victorian trots in 2016 alone.
Twenty-eight Victorian races have been exported to France this year with the new Monday night events proving extremely popular with French punters.
Following the most recent meeting on February 15, the French export of races saw an aggregate turnover of over 4 million euro (almost $6million AUD), for an average of over 139,000 euro ($212,000 AUD) per race.
The meeting held at Tabcorp Park Melton on February 8 has proved to be the biggest to date with over 740,000 euro (over $1.1m AUD) wagered on the last four races of the night.
The races have also proved popular with local punters, with Victorian TAB turnover on the meetings exceeding expectations.
The races are broadcast via the French racing vision provider with the support of Harness Racing Victoria’s (HRV) broadcast partner, Sky Racing, and are wagered on through the French pari-mutuel PMU.
HRV Wagering Manager Ryan Stanaway said that the results were a positive for the industry.
“The results for the year to date are extremely pleasing. To generate almost $6 million in additional turnover for our code without adding new fixtures is a terrific outcome,” Stanaway said.
“It’s also a great sign that Victorian trotting is well respected globally and hopefully this will lead to further opportunities to showcase our product in the future.
“It is obviously a valuable revenue stream for HRV, and we are very grateful to our participants for their support of the initiative to date. It has required some changes to our schedule, which the industry on the whole has embraced, and now the broader benefits for Victorian trots are evident.”
French punters will become even more familiar with Victorian trotting action, with a minimum of 44 races scheduled to be beamed into France for the remainder of 2016.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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