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Summer’s sizzle will also turn up the heat for harness racing’s beloved Pony Trots Victoria, which is ready to go into overdrive.
The first Hygain Summer of Glory Metropolitan Series kicks off on Saturday as part of Night 2 of the TAB Summer of Glory, which is fittingly a families’ night celebration at Melton.
And there will be plenty of proud family members cheering on from the sidelines when the drivers and their ponies chase all-important points in the metropolitan series, a five-night challenge with great prizes for its combatants.
Pony Trots Victoria manager Jenni Lewis said Saturday promised to be a thrilling start to a series that would elevate the pony trots competition.
“It’s always great to be able to race at Melton, particularly on big nights like the Hunter Cup, so to have a new five-race series there is extremely exciting and I can’t wait until we crown our first champion,” Lewis said.
All five of the Summer of Glory series rounds will be at Victoria’s home of metropolitan racing, with this Saturday’s staging to be followed by round two on Del-Re National A. G. Hunter Cup night on February 4, round three on February 11, round four on February 25 and then the grand finale on March 4, which will be a pony trots extravaganza.
Each metropolitan championship race will gift 16 points to its winner, 13 to the runner-up and 11 to the third-placed participant, with points cascading all the way to one point for finishing in 13th place.
The pony who scores the most points across the five rounds will be crowned the Hygain Summer of Glory Metropolitan Series champion on March 4, which will be a big celebration at Melton.
And a talented field has emerged to contest night one, including the Pony Trots Country Cups Champion Madison Pengelly and her pony Elliot (pictured). They will start from a 570-metre handicap in the field of 10, which will contest a prelude at 6.05pm before the big Round 1 race at 6.35pm. Here is the field:
