Next season’s Harness Racing showcase – the Harness Jewels, will not be at Ashburton next season but up the road at Addington in Christchurch.
The decision was made by the HRNZ Board last week after it was presented with proposals from the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club and Ashburton Trotting Club.
“In the end the decision wasn’t too difficult to make. It came down to a number of factors. Perhaps the most compiling fact is that the Ashburton Club is going through a transition phase in terms of their management and their club. I don’t think the Board was instilled with confidence for them to run the event. Addington have a good track record of putting on big events,” said HRNZ Chairman Ken Spicer.
The first ever Harness Jewels were held at Ashburton in 2007 and from that point on it’s been the preferred South Island host every second year.
The event was great for the town and Spicer says the Ashburton TC may reapply to host the event again.
“I rang the President straight away. Obviously they’ll be disappointed but in saying that it’s only for one year and there’s a chance for them to regroup and have a crack at in two years time. It’s not as though it’s been taken away from them forever.”
Spicer said there are advantages in racing at Addington.
“I think from the horsemen’s (trainers and drivers) point of view, they’ll be in favour in going to Addington with a covered barn and the nice track. At a grassroots level I think there’ll be a few people saying it shouldn’t go to a big club, that it should stay at a smaller club. But it wasn’t about this club and that club it was where we thought the Jewels would be better suited in 2019.”
He says there’ll be more opportunities to grow the event with a wider range of hospitality options and more corporates getting involved in the event.
“There’s also a chance that we may get some major sponsorship by being in a bigger centre. We’ll also pick up on the off-course betting in Australia because Addington seems to get premium betting as opposed to some of the country tracks.”
Spicer says there’ll also be some cost saving by hosting the event at Addington.
“Obviously we don’t have to set up Marquees.”
He says no decision has been made on whether Cambridge could lose it’s North Island hosting rights to the Auckland Trotting Club.
“We’ll have a look at Cambridge next year based on what they’re doing this year but all indications are that they’re doing a great job. If it’s a great event (this year) there’s every chance it’ll go back to Cambridge in 2020.”
Spicer says some consideration is being given to altering the time of the season when the Jewels are run.
“The option we looked at was going to January and putting it over a calendar year. But that would take out the two year olds and you’d have three, four and five year olds (racing) because you’re obviously only having half a season for the two year olds. The only problem is that we felt it would get lost at that time of year with so much else going on. June is not an ideal time with the weather, but it suits the calendar because there’s not too much on at that time of year.”
Spicer also indicated the Board could look at a different location altogether. He mentioned they’d considered bringing it to Southland. And that there was some support for the idea.
“I think if it came to Southland it would be a big boost and it would go well but it’s a long way to come and at that time of year it might not be the ideal place to be. But’s it a possibility,” he said.
Wouldn’t that be a gem!
Bruce Stewart
Southland Harness Racing