From September 1 this year Harness Racing Victoria (HRV) will introduce a second weekly feature race meeting.
The introduction of a $10,000 non-metropolitan circuit (known as Tier 1 meetings) among a raft of changes has been welcomed by the Victorian Trainers and Drivers Association.
The package was also presented to the Harness Racing Advisory Council, which provided positive feedback to the concept.
The circuit will be scheduled as the featured non-metropolitan meeting of the week.
HRV will also implement the new tiered prizemoney system from September 1, which aims to make Victorian harness racing more competitive and provide more opportunities for grassroots participants.
The new tiered system will work as follows:
- Tier 1 meetings: Predominantly made up of $10,000 races
- Tier 2 meetings: Predominantly made up of $7000 races
- Tier 3 meetings: Predominantly made up of $3500 races
Today’s announced changes are designed to:
- Allow trainers to handicap their horses via the standard they think the horse is capable of competing in.
- Provide more racing opportunities for lower grade horses, which should boost the racing population and the grassroots trainers.
- Reduce the number of odds-on favourites as more evenly matched fields are put together and prizemoney levels will be more aligned with turnover levels.
Payments down to last in Victoria will also be changed to reflect a percentage of each race’s stake, stepping away from the current system which sees metropolitan runners receive the same amount for running last as horses in restricted races.
The changes will see:
- (Race stake $3500) 5th to last $125 (3.6% of prizemoney)
- (Race stake $7000) 6th to last $140 (2% of prizemoney)
- (Race stake $10,000) 6th to last $200 (2% of prizemoney)
- (Race stake $17,000) 6th to last $340 (2% of prizemoney)
- (Race stake $20,000) 6th to last $400 (2% of prizemoney)
The Victorian Trainers and Drivers Association (VTDA) welcome today’s announcements.
“We are really excited by this because it will allow trainers to handicap their horse to give it the best chance to be competitive and it will result in fewer odds-on favourites,” VTDA president Lance Justice said.
“The grassroots trainers will benefit greatly because they will be able to find their level.
“We’ve worked closely with Harness Racing Victoria on these changes for the last 12 months. We have listened to the feedback from our members and there will be a lot of happy people in the industry as a result of these changes.”
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
