The Bendigo Harness Racing Club is delighted to announce that Aldebaran Park, Australia’s home of the straightout trotter, will be the new sponsor of the Bendigo Trotters Cup.
The announcement further strengthens Aldebaran Park’s commitment to promoting square-gaiters races in Victoria, particularly at Bendigo where it has sponsored the Club’s signature race for trotting mares, the Group 1 $50,000 Aldebaran Park Maori Mile, since its inception in 2010.
The Group 3 Aldebaran Park Bendigo Trotters Cup will be held on Friday, June 26 over 2650 metres from a standing start with discretionary handicapping.
The race carries basic prizemoney of $25,000 with Aldebaran Park providing a service voucher of $2,000 to the winning owner to be used for a service to one of the Aldebaran Park stallion roster in the 2020/21 season.
The Aldebaran Park stud lineup is spearheaded by former champion Skyvalley NZ, the current leading Australian-bred trotting stallion and sire of the mighty Tornado Valley, and the royally-bred, well-performed Muscle Hill horse Aldebaran Eagle, whose first crop are yearlings.
The Bendigo Trotters Cup was inaugurated in 1972 and has been won by many of the greats of the Australian trotting turf including Scotch Notch, True Roman, Knight Pistol, Lenin, Stormy Morn and Just Money.
Aldebaran Park principal Duncan McPherson OAM said: “Aldebaran Park is delighted to extend its relationship with Bendigo HRC and coupled with our existing sponsorship of the Maori Mile it again strengthens our resolve to ensure that we promote trotting in Australia.
“There is little doubt that as an Industry we are internationalising and globalising the trotting gait in the Southern Hemisphere thus ensuring that we are a significant market of interest for Northern Hemisphere investors.”
Eric Hendrix, the general manager of the Bendigo Harness Racing Club, said:
“Already being involved at Bendigo with our Group 1 Aldebaran Park Maori Mile, I felt this was a great opportunity to once again help grow the exposure and compliment the hard work Duncan McPherson has already done for trotting.
“The BHRC has a fantastic relationship with Aldebaran Park and we look forward to growing both the Trotters Cup and Maori Mile in the years to come.”
Peter Wharton