Q Racing re-branded

Following consultation with the Albion Park Harness Racing Club and representatives of the industry which form the Harness Industry Discussion Group, Racing Queensland can announce that effective January 1, 2016 the local Metropolitan Q Racing structure will be replaced by a similar local Metropolitan class structure using “Band” assessments maintaining the same benefits that Q Racing currently offers.

By introducing Band assessments Racing Queensland can take advantage of the Band Handicapping feature which is available to Queensland through the National Harness Racing Handicapping system avoiding much of the manual workload and pitfalls associated with the fully manually maintained Q Racing system.

The Band assessments once loaded into the HaRVey system will display on HarnessWeb, race fields and form guides assisting licensees and the public to understand and follow the local assessments through this more identifiable method.

Please see below for a summary of Band assessments compared to Q assessments:-

Q0       To be known as Qualifying Pace – no Band allocated

Q1 =    Band 5

Q2 =    Band 4

Q3 =    Band 3

Q4 =    Band 2

Q5+ = Band 1

Each horse to win a local Metropolitan (Band Penalty) race between the value of $11,000 to $14,999 will advance to the next Band.  Horses which drop back in class after ten (10) non-winning performances will also have their Band assessment reduced at this time.

New horses to Queensland will be allocated a Band assessment equivalent to their Metropolitan assessment.  For example M1 = Band 5, M2 = Band 4 and so on.

Given the Band system will be introduced at short notice the race programs printed in the soon to be released January PACE Magazine will not be available however owners and trainers are encouraged to refer to the Meeting Calendar on the Australian Harness Racing website for the full program details.  Printed copies of the programs will also be made available at the Acceptance Offices at the Albion Park and Redcliffe Harness Racing Clubs.

The Saturday programs for January and February 2016 will be totally re-written complete with new race codes and any of the races programmed as a “Conditioned Pace” midweek will feature minor changes.

For queries please contact the Harness Racing Office on (07) 3869 9774.