Racing: Harness stakes likely to be maintained

Paramount Geegee wins at Ashburton on Saturday. Photo / Christine Cornege

The man in charge of New Zealand harness racing believes the financial bloodletting in the industry could be over.

Harness Racing New Zealand boss Edward Rennell says he is confident stake levels, which fell in many parts of the country this season, will, at least, be maintained next term.

And that includes HRNZ's own pinnacle event, the Harness Jewels.

Fresh from a successful running of the fifth edition of the Jewels at Ashburton on Saturday, Rennell says stake level for next season's series at Cambridge have yet to be guaranteed.

But he expects them to be maintained at this year's levels of $150,000 for pacers and $100,000 for trotters.

That was a decrease of $50,000 for each pacing race, a drop which raised surprisingly little comment in harness racing circles.

And Rennell's confidence those levels can be maintained mirrors his feelings about national stake levels.

"While it is not an exact science I think things won't get any worse," said Rennell. "The Racing Board distribution for next season will be up a little on this season and that should help maintain stake levels."

Rennell says it is then the industry's job to look at ways of increasing its revenue.

"I see three key ways of doing that.

"We have to look at the dates' calendar, the type of racing we are sending off-shore and we also have to review costs.

"While things may not be rosy right now I think we have opportunities to improve."

Rennell says one of the great determinants in the strength of the national harness racing economy for the next two years will be the recovery of the Canterbury region from the earthquakes.

"It has obviously been a very tough time down here and 40 per cent of the harness horses in the country are owned in the greater Canterbury area.

"So, the earthquakes have an effect on how many horses will be raced, sold, bred and a lot of other things."

Rennell said HRNZ were happy with Jewels day, especially after dodging a weather bullet.

"The crowd would have been around 5000 or over, which is as good as the first running of the Jewels four years ago and I'd say better than two years ago. So we are happy with that but we will still seek public opinion of what they made of the day.

"We will survey people through the Harness Racing Weekly and then put that feedback into our debriefing session.

"But, I think, the concept overall works very well.

"The way we select the fields, stakes-based, creates a lot of interest and it is easy for people to understand.

"We are getting good promotion out of the Jewels colours.

"As for the day itself, I think it works well and the racing is very good."

There is no push at this stage, though, to include an open-class pace or trot for older horses, as has been successful at the Australasian Breeders Crown.

"Firstly, we don't have the funds for that at the moment and, secondly, with Cup Week being such a big deal for us, a lot of our open-class horses are spelling by this time of the year."

LOOKING FORWARD

* Harness racing bosses believe stake levels can be maintained for next season.

* That includes the $1.2 million paid out on Jewels Day.

* The Racing Board distribution to the code next season is likely to rise.