Harness Racing
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IN A bid to avoid the summer heat all South West and Riverina harness racing meetings between November and February will be moved to night meetings in the 2014/15 season.
Instead of racing on Friday afternoon, meetings will now be programmed in the Tuesday night time slot.
Seven meetings will be conducted on Tuesday nights at Wagga, two at Young, two at Albury and one will be held at Leeton.
Leeton will hold its opening night of the MIA Breeders Plate Carnival on a Friday night, while Temora's Carnival Of Cups meeting will remain on a Friday night.
Harness Racing NSW (HRNSW) Chief Executive Sam Nati said the heat was one of the main reasons behind the change which would also allow a larger gap between others meetings in the region which will still be programmed on Saturday night.
"This change is aimed at providing opportunities for South West and Riverina Trainers to race with a reasonable gap between meetings to better utilise the horse population," Nati said.
"Furthermore, there were a number of meetings in the current season effected by heat, two of which had be moved to undesirable time slot," Nati said.
"By moving meetings in the November to February period to the night time slot horse and participant welfare will not be an issue."
Nati said HRNSW have been wanting to move the South West and Riverina meetings for the past two seasons which was meet with negative feedback from the Wagga and Young harness racing clubs.
However the Wagga Harness Racing Club (WHRC) has recently expressed its acceptance of the move to a midweek night time slot.
WHRC chief executive Graeme White said the club had agreed to the move, believing it would be a more accessible time period for trainers and drivers with other work commitments.
"We are willing to give it a try and see how it goes," White said.
After holding a number of non-TAB meetings this season all Junee and Temora harness racing club meetings will be covered by the TAB in 2014/15.
The moving of the South West and Riverina meeting will see the NSW Harness Racing Club's meeting at Menangle moved from Tuesday afternoon to the vacated Friday afternoon time period.
"It is envisaged that this move will increase wagering activity in the popular Friday twilight time slot where punters will be able to follow the state's most known trainers and drivers at the premier metropolitan track," Nati said.