We are starting to get into the back end of the harness racing season in New Zealand and the annual awards for best in age / gait are starting to come into view.
The system for selecting the winners in all of the categories is once again being left to the media which to us is an absolute joke.
We couldn't think of a more lop sided unfair system to choose what should be a highlight of the year for all the owners and trainers involved.
A few years ago the number of voting papers sent out to media outlets totalled 39 but that had thankfully been reduced to 21 by last year.
Even at 21, votes are being made by people within the media who have little or no contact with harness racing during the year.
At the moment Harness Racing New Zealand has yet to finalize the list of people who will vote for this years awards and it is well aware of the problems with the present system.
Our major issue is simply this – Why do journalists get to decide who the winners are in each category?
We will receive a voting paper here at Harnesslink but we struggle to see how our opinion on these categories is any more valid than any other person who has watched the same horses race each season.
One of our major concerns about the present system in New Zealand is that as a journalist you become very friendly with a lot of the trainers/drivers/owners in the industry and then come awards time you have to put all those relationships aside and vote supposedly with your head not your heart.
Some of the results every year would suggest that a lot of journalists have great difficulty doing this.
Our solution to this ongoing problem is simple.
A points system for all group races should be established by Harness Racing New Zealand and the highest points scorer in each age and gait category should be crowned that years champion.
The Thoroughbred Filly of the year and the Thoroughbred South Island Filly of the year are selected by such a system and it seems to work well
That system is not open to favoritism and claims of bias as the present harness racing one is and everyone would know that the winner had earned the title.
Our view would be that Group1 races would earn more points than Group 2 and the same points gap would apply between Group 2 and Group 3 races.
We thought a system as we outline below may work
Group 1 Points 1st – 15 2nd – 8 3rd – 6 4th – 4 5th – 2
Group 2 Points 1st – 10 2nd – 6 3rd – 4 4th – 2 5th – 1
Group 3 Points 1st – 7 2nd – 4 3rd – 3 4th – 2 5th – 1
When this issue is raised with industry participants we speak to, the comments in a lot of cases are scathing of the present system
What should be obvious to Harness Racing New Zealand is that the present system is not sustainable in the long term.
It needs to change and the sooner the better for everyone involved.
JC