A review of the NZ Metropolitan’s Group and Feature races at the end of last season has led to several tweaks to the structure and timing of their marquee races.
The most notable change has been the shift forward in dates of the club’s major mares’ races. The Garrards NZ Premier Mares Championship moves forward two weeks to 02 February and the PGG WrightsonNZ Breeders Stakes essentially moves forward five weeks to 16 February.
The narrowed, two-week gap will allow mares to better target the races as a cluster and ensure greater nationwide involvement.
The club will also have a lead-up race for those fillies and mares a notch down from the higher rated ones on January 26.
A national review of the Group race structure four years ago saw all of harness racing’s major races combined into Premier programmes. Upon further review, three years into the concept, whilst the intention was good, some races have suffered as a result and the club hasn’t been able to construct the optimum flow of some races for horses and their connections.
The Met Racing Secretary Brian Rabbitt explains; “This season we’ve taken the opportunity to move some features off the Premier meetings. We believe that as well as creating better opportunities for the mares we’ll strengthen the racing on our Premier nights.”
Another significant alteration of the feature races has been the shift of the PGG Wrightson Yearling Sales 2YO Open a week away from the NZ Sires Stakes Final in May. Working with the NZ Sires Stakes Board and using feedback from trainers a two-week gap has been created between to the two richest two-year-old races of the season.
The Sales Series Open will be run on May 4, with the Sires Stakes Final now on May 18. The two-week gap designed to allow time to recover between runs for the glamour two-year-olds.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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