August marks inaugural Tapeta Series and Benchmark Trial.
The Tasmanian Winter-Spring Program presents several initiatives, which will provide excellent opportunities for participants throughout the later part of Winter and into the Spring. This will commence with the showcase of Tapeta Park, Devonport through the month on August with the inaugural staging of the Tapeta Series. Consisting of four events it provides opportunity to both sprinters and stayers :
• Sunday 10 August $20,000 Sprint Prelude 1000m
• Sunday 17 August $20,000 Distance Prelude 1650m
• Sunday 24 August $25,000 Sprint Final 1150m
• Sunday 31 August $25,000 Distance Final 1880m
A trial throughout August and September will see an alteration to the benchmark bands with Benchmark 72 and Benchmark 82 being run and the number of Open handicaps restricted to the 4 races outlined within the Tapeta Series.
| STANDARD |
Benchmark 62
|
Benchmark 68 | Benchmark 78 | OPEN |
|
AUG-SEPT
|
Benchmark 62 | Benchmark 72 | Benchmark 82 |
OPEN (Tapeta Series) |
In past seasons the period in question, August and September, has witnessed a lack of genuine open class gallopers, with the majority focussing their preparations towards the summer racing season.
The implementation of this initiative is to improve the distribution of the population across programmed races, increasing breadth of distribution of prize money and also help ensure better field sizes to improve wagering.
Tasracing will review all key metrics – racing population distribution, race nomination numbers, average race field sizes and average race wagering turnover, throughout this time to gauge the effectiveness of the winter program.
November is the traditional starting point for the feature race program and 2014 will again provide opportunities for the quality gallopers to start their campaigns for the Tasmanian Summer Racing Carnival, with some adjustment to the previous years’ schedule, to accommodate progression into the revised Summer features.