Harness racing in the Otago region was thrown into kayos today when without any prior warning, the Forbury Park Trotting Club pulled the pin on the $25,000 Dunedin City Four + Five Year Championship which was due to be run at Forbury Park on Thursday night.
The Club received six nominations for the race before nominations closed.
Three other trainers indicated to the club that they had horses that were prepared to move to the Group Three race to make sure it got off the ground but the club refused to let the horses in question shift races.
The Dunedin City Four + Five Year old Championship is one of a handful of Group races held at Forbury Park and several trainers in the Southern Region had targeted the race months ago in their planning both because of the stake money involved and the opportunity to put some more dollars besides their names on the road to the Harness Jewels at Cambridge Raceway
Forbury Park has been in the news for several months now for all the wrong reasons with its well known poor financial position having many in the industry questioning its future beyond this season.
The last thing the club needs in its present position is for trainers or drivers in the North Otago, Central Otago, and Southland training ranks starting to bypass meetings at Forbury Park due to the massive amount of ill feeling created by todays decision.
John Ayoub, the CEO at Forbury Park was keen to front today and defend the axing of the race.
" We were quite clear in the programme notes on Harness Racing New Zealand that you wouldn't be able to transfer into this race."
" It is a Group 3 race and we needed horses of that level to make the race viable "
" Our fields and selections committee felt that six horses wasn't enough to run the race and that the three C3 horses that had indicated they would be prepared to move to increase the field size to nine were not of the standard required."
" The head of the fields and selection committee Daryl Trainor consulted widely with the trainers and drivers before the committee made its final decision," John said.
When I asked John why they refused horses the chance to move between races when it is something that Forbury Park does at every meeting it holds throughout the year, John was adamant that it wasn't something they did for horses in Group races at Forbury Park.
Harnesslink was keen to know if the race might be rescheduled later in the season but John Ayoub was clear that the decision of what to do next had yet to be considered by the Forbury Park Trotting Club.
Quite a few horsemen preferred not to comment when we contacted them today as they were that angry they were concerned they would say things they may later regret.
One who was prepared to go on record was leading Southland trainer/driver Nathan Williamson who was furious at the decision.
" I set Tas Man Bromac for this race at the start of the season as part of a plan for him to earn enough money for the Harness Jewels at Cambridge."
" I talked my owners out of selling him with the carrot of having a horse making it to the Harness Jewels and now that plan is in tatters".
" The big reason in my opinion that this $25,000 Group 3 race has been canned is the financial health of the Forbury Park Trotting Club"
" They switch horses between races all the time right through the season so that they can get their meetings off the ground so to use that as an excuse here is just rank hypocrisy."
" If they are genuine about it being because of a lack of enough quality horses in a Group 3 race and not about the money, then they will reschedule the race at the earliest possible time."
" If it is about the money, then the race won't be run this season," Nathan said.
Harnesslink thinks this whole incident has been handled terribly by the club whatever their rationale.
They depend to a huge extent on horses and horsemen from outside their province to hold their race meetings and to antagonize them in such in a way when their support is so badly needed for the club to survive is very hard to understand.
Someone from the executive of the club needs to sit down with the aggrieved trainers and drivers as soon as possible before this becomes known as the issue that finished the Forbury Park Trotting Club.
Mark Robertson – Harnesslink Media