Ballarat, industry win new fans

A colourful night at the Ballarat trots in winter has potentially converted hundreds of people into harness racing industry enthusiasts.

Ballarat and District Trotting Club Chief Executive Paul Rowse described the atmosphere at Bray Raceway as “amazing” on Tuesday night as club sponsor PETstock held its annual conference at the race meeting.

Hundreds of colourfully dressed PETstock employees were thrilled with the night’s action, the club reporting on-course turnover and bar and restaurant sales through the roof.

Rowse said $24,000 was turned over on-course, up from the usual average of about $10,000 at this time of year, while $10,000 went through the bar. “You’d be lucky to two or three grand normally through the bar on a Tuesday night in winter,” Rowse said. The club also served 320 meals.

PETstock Managing Director David Young, who with a group of colleagues is part-owner of recent Group 1 winning filly Petacular, spoke of the exhilaration the ownership group is having with the Michael Stanley trained pacer.

"It's been absolutely awesome with Petacular," Young said. 

"All the work mates involved are really thoroughly enjoying it and I think there's a bit of regret from the ones who didn't initially want to be in it, given how well she's going."

Young said PETstock was enjoying its association with the Ballarat club and added Tuesday night was a fantastic way for staff from all over Australia and New Zealand to catch up.

"We had a competition throughout the night where we were all divided up into teams and so in each race the teams were cheering for their horse. It was an awesome scene. And it sounds like a lot of the crew didn't mind a punt because the on-course turnover was well up," he said.

Rowse said Young was constantly keen to promote ownership and plenty of the PETstock crew on track were eager to either buy a second horse after the Petacular experience or take their first step into racehorse ownership.

“The night showed that if you put in that little bit extra effort then people will leave having had a positive experience and hopefully we’ve got 300 converts to our club and the sport,” Rowse said.

“What would otherwise have been a cold, quiet night at the trots turned into a fantastic night full of colour and hopefully we’ll all benefit as an industry from it.”

Rowse thanked both Shepparton and Terang clubs for agreeing to calendar changes which allowed Ballarat to race on the night of PETstock’s conference.

“The moral is if any club has the potential to attract a big audience or put on a special night then work together with other clubs to make it happen. We’d be willing to do the same if clubs approached us. It’s about collaboration for the betterment of the industry. We were very thankful that Shepparton and Terang were good enough to help us out.”

The night was also saw the club utilise electronic betting terminals (EBTs) for the first time, Rowse saying he believed the club was the first non-dual-code racing club to utilise them.

About $3000 was turned over through the EBTs.

Harness Racing Victoria’s (HRV) Blake Redden was also on hand running a punter’s club, which the colourful PETstock crew – each attendee came dressed in bright colours representing their state – lapped up.

The club also ran mobile barrier rides between all races giving attendees a close-up view of the action.

Cody Winnell

Harness Racing Victoria