The Programming Sub-committee (PSC) met on Thursday, 7th July to finalise the upcoming August – November 2022 programs.
Key points of discussion included Claimers and the format of the Sires Stakes.
SIRES STAKES
On 17th June an industry notice advised the following information in relation to the format of the 2022 Sires Stakes series:
The Tasbred Sires Stakes races for 2022 will receive an increase in prizemoney and be conducted in a differing format to previous years.
- Launceston: 23rd October – A heat for all age / sex groups – $12,000
- Hobart: 30th October – A heat for all age / sex groups – $12,000
- Launceston: 6th November – 4YO Finals $60,000
- Launceston: 13th November – 3YO Finals $60,000
- Hobart: 20th November – 2YO Finals $60,000
All horses eligible to compete in the finals will be required to nominate for the first round of heats.
Whilst the concept has been confirmed, it was agreed that the spacing between the heats and finals, specifically the 2YO’s, resulted in unsuitable gaps between the heats and finals.
The following changes have been confirmed:
2YO’s
Heats to be conducted: Hobart – Friday 11th November
Finals to be conducted: Hobart – Sunday 20th November
Conditions of series
In addition to the Breeders Support Policy:
Heats will be conducted if the minimum field size of 6 can be achieved.
If heats are not conducted and there are six or more acceptors, a prelude will be conducted for the advertised stake money of the heats. The draw will be PBD/NR.
3YO & 4YO’s
Heats to be conducted:
Hobart – Sunday 23rd October
Launceston – Sunday 30th October
Finals to be conducted:
Launceston – Sunday 13th November
Conditions of series
In addition to the Breeders Support Policy:
All horses wishing to compete in the series will be required to nominate for the first heat.
Fields will be selected via Manual Field Selection.
If more than 24 nominations are received for any leg of the series an additional heat will be held.
Horses balloted from the first heat will be automatically nominated for Heat 2, this includes the emergencies if a start is not gained. Any withdrawals will need to be notified prior to close of acceptances for Heat 2.
All remaining horses will be required to nominate for the second heat.
If more than the maximum field size nominates for the second heat horses which did not compete in the first heat will be given first preference, this includes the emergencies of the first heat if no start was gained.
To achieve either a minimum or maximum field size horses which competed in the first heat but did not qualify for the final will be given second preference.
The winner of the first heat will be ineligible to nominate for any subsequent heat.
Final selections will be based on the General Conditions for Races conducted as Heats and Finals conditions (HARNESS Handicapping SCHEDULE & PROCEDURES (nre.tas.gov.au))
CLAIMERS
Included in the Industry Release from 8th April 2022 was advice that Tasracing would continue to monitor Claiming races with a decision regarding their ongoing programming to be decided.
In the current season there has been 15 Claiming races programmed, 5 of these have gone ahead. One of these ran with 4 runners after multiple scratching’s post acceptances. 5 races were deleted due to lack of nominations prior to April 2022.
As per the April industry release, when a claiming race receives 3-5 nominations a ballot race would be created to include the nominated claimers with rating horses. 5 of the last 6 programmed races have been conducted this way.
Due to the above stated concerns the decision has been made to no longer programme Claiming races. Rating races ‘plus Claimers’ will be programmed for the month of August. From 1 September Claiming races will no longer be programmed in any capacity.
The finalised program for August – November 2022 is available here
The full Feature & Special events calendars will be available via the Tasracing Corporate website once approved.
Ange Barrett
Code Lead – Harness
13 July 2022