Another $4000 stakes meeting bites the dust

Another country Victorian harness racing club is picking up the pieces after being forced to cancel a $4000 stakes race meeting.

Trainers and owners are voting with their feet, so far refusing to support any of the cash-strapped HRV’s meetings recently programmed with reduced stakes at Melton, Warragul, Terang and now Swan Hill.

A similar fixture scheduled for Horsham early next month (a day after the higher stakes Birchip fixture) has also been shelved, with the club investigating options for a more suitable date.

Swan Hill Club President Noel Watson said the club, which was due to race next Monday night (Feb 24), was gutted with the outcome.

“We’re disappointed and somewhat embarrassed to have to go back to our sponsors and supporters who made bookings for the night, and tell them we didn’t have enough nominations for the meeting to go ahead,” Watson said.

“As a trainer, there’s no doubt you would nominate for other meetings which are scheduled around ours (Charlton and Mildura) for the better money, and we’ve been in touch with HRV to get some clarification on how we can avoid this scenario again,” he said.

Last financial year HRV, before State Government operating grants, recorded a $25.8 million loss, $3 million more than the previous year.  HRV says the losses reflect declining revenue from the softening wagering market and inflation-driven costs and it is working proactively to reduce operating costs.

It began programming $4000 meetings this season, primarily on Mondays, as part of its debt-reduction strategy.

But the initiative has been met with hostility from the grass roots participant level, and, so far, none of the meetings attracted enough nominations to run.

Watson said the volunteer-run Swan Hill club was thrilled to have been allocated extra race dates this season, but the reality was the club’s $4000 meeting was never likely to succeed.

“The straw that broke the camel’s back for us is that within 48 hours of our meeting, both Mildura and Charlton had meetings scheduled with full prizemoney, so we really had no hope,” Watson said.

He said the club took pride in the fact that it was one of the most professional and successful in regional Victoria.

“We have a really good track – by any metric you want to use, our track is incredible and one of the fastest in Victoria,” he said.

“We go above and beyond to offer a great participant experience, with fuel voucher incentives for trainers, a free barbecue and drinks for trainers and drivers, on-course, behind-the scenes interviews – it’s a great atmosphere and trainers and drivers love coming here.

“On top of that, we run a really successful dining room operation through clubs and organisations in our community that basically has our dining room sold out for most meetings.

“So as far as we are concerned, we are going okay, but this is absolutely not a good look for harness racing in general and for those of us who are losing meetings, because in small communities it doesn’t take long for bad news to spread.

“Each cancelled meeting is a lost opportunity for a club and a community and for participants, so hopefully HRV will work with us to ensure a similar scenario does not occur again.”

by Harnesslink Media