All other harness meetings will have their one-win and faster races open from 9am on the day of the race, with maiden and amateur drivers' races opening 20 minutes before the race start time.
Those punting on premier meetings will get even better service, with all races at those meetings to open the day before, while there will also be Drivers' Challenge betting options every Thursday to Sunday there is domestic harness racing.
The move will be especially pleasing to punters as harness racing has proved a magnet for fixed odds punters hoping to seek the best value out of the often short-priced favourites.
It is also a haven for larger fixed odds bettors, especially as track conditions play virtually no part in punting strategy compared with thoroughbred racing.
While the TAB usually set their opening markets to between 135 and 138 per cent, they have improved enormously in that regard to be more competitive with the tote close to race start time, with one recent market at Cambridge getting down to 108 per cent, which is almost unheard for harness racing worldwide.
And with bookmakers now willing to let punters on to win between $5000 and $10,000 on almost any harness race, the options for serious punters have never been as good.
The moves come at a time when Australian harness racing punters, long envied in this country, are copping their worst service ever.
Kiwi punters have for decades drooled over the prospect of the supposed huge over dividends available with Australian on-course bookmakers but they are becoming an endangered species, with all but the biggest harness meetings having few bookmakers and their opening markets being set to an extremely prohibitive percentage.
And trying to get an Australian on-course bookmaker to let you back a horse to win $5000 is almost impossible at a normal meeting.
That was partially balanced out last season by the major TABs providing far better fixed odds betting flexibility but that has now disappeared in a shock decision that has outraged Australian harness racing bosses.
The Victorian and New South Wales TABs will now only open most harness racing fixed odds markets 10 minutes before a race, by which time they can use the tote as a very accurate guide and mimic the on-course bookmakers' prices.
That is a huge change from last season, when most Friday night major harness races were open at least on the morning of the race.
The change is clearly financial, with insiders telling the Herald the TAB bookmakers were simply losing too much money on harness racing.
With Australian gallops punters able to secure fixed odds from several sources on almost any race, harness racing punters are fuming.
And for the first time ever in envy of their New Zealand counterparts.
