West Wyalong’s Carnival of Cups has a new addition to its cup day line-up, with the final of a standing start series that offers a $19000 purse . This includes a $12000 final, with a gig to the winning trainer and $1000 to the driver.
Organisers hope the series will be an ongoing event and will help attract additional horses to the West Wyalong meeting.
The Tattersalls Hotel Starlite Standing Start Series was the brainchild of publican and harness racing enthusiast James Clyburn who has sponsored the event.
Mr Clyburn believes that small clubs like West Wyalong, that only race twice a year, need to inject as much variety and spice as possible into their meetings to ensure they remain on the calendar.
“It’s the longevity of the small clubs that we need to work on,” said Mr Clyburn.
As a businessman he knows the importance of keeping events going in the country for the benefit of the town as a whole.
West Wyalong Harness Racing Club president Ray Moore added keeping these meetings alive is also necessary to give the smaller trainers and hobbyists a chance to race against horses of a similar quality at their local venues.
“The tyranny of distance to venues is against regional horses and trainers, this new standing start series is very exciting and it presents an opportunity for horses of all grades to compete against one another,” Mr Moore said.
The series is open to horses from C0 to C10 and it’s expected the handicapping system will probably place ten metres between each grade, which effectively could mean a horse coming off a position 100 metres behind the front markers.
“It will be a great sight to see the horses from behind trying to catch the front markers over 2500 metres.”
There has been support for the series around the region with the heats lined up for Dubbo on March 18, Wagga on March 22 and West Wyalong’s Easter meeting on March 26. The final will be run at the Carnival of Cups meeting on Sunday April 3.
Mr Moore reminds owners and trainers that horses will have to be qualified for the standing start conditions.
“It is hoped the series will attract plenty of quality horses and trainers with a $12000 final plus a Starlite gig for the winning trainer and $1000 for the winning driver.”
“The aim is for the event to get bigger and better each year and attract a good number of metropolitan horses and trainers,” said Mr Moore.
The new event joins the $12000 Pacers Cup on the program, which has been sponsored by the Wyalong Services and Citizens Club for over 40 years.
The race card also offers the $9000 SJC Contracting, JK Design and Construction, Phillips Building three year old 3CO – 3C1 final with heats at the Easter meeting, and the $9000 South West Slopes Credit Union C0-C1 heat and final, as well as two $6000 Menangle Where Horses Fly series heats. These will be included in an eight or nine race program.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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