Stellar night for fillies and mares at Alexandra Park
The Auckland Trotting Club's premier harness racing meeting this Friday (16th December) has no less than four races programmed for fillies and/or mares. The highlight of the meeting is the feature race, the Group 1 Rosslands Queen of Hearts with a mouth watering stake of $100,000.
The five-time Group 1 winning mare, Carabella, will once again lay down the gauntlet to her peers. The exceptional Bettor's Delight mare bred and owned by Cavalla Bloodstock is heading into this Group 1 with a near perfect record - 15 wins and 1 second from 16 starts.
Click
here to read more.
Strong start to CSBA's Mares Speed series
It all started with a meeting of the Canterbury Standardbred Breeders’ Association (CSBA) committee and CSBA President/NZSBA Chairman John Mooney’s vision to have a mares’ series run over a mile in Canterbury.
Following-on from the successful Southern Belles series, Mooney knew that such a series in Canterbury would be well received.
In partnership with long-time harness racing financial supporter Ian Dobson, the Christian Cullen Mares series was born.
With a strong field of 11, the first heat of the series kicked off at Methven last Sunday. Aimed at mares four-years or older with up to five wins and no more than $50,000 in stakes; this series will suit a large pool of mares without the worry of open classed rivals taking the spoils.
The winner Supreme Gem, (Christian Cullen/Flying Sands) took out the first heat convincingly with three-and-half lengths to spare. Winner of five races from sixteen starts, the mare bred by the late Peter Cowan is now into the final which is to be held in Ashburton on the 11th February 2012.
John Mooney remarked on the first race of the series:
“It was good to see three quality mares advancing to the final and a grand time of 1.59.2 on the grass.
Congratulations to Methven club for presenting the track in such great order.”
We are looking forward to the next heats at Ashburton on the 26th December and Nelson in early January.
The Nelson club is keen to see how fast their track is over a mile.
HRNZ Survey
Below is a link to a HRNZ survey designed to give HRNZ more insight into the behaviour and current situation of industry participants . Much of the survey focuses on ownership with additional areas in races, information, HRNZ and industry issues.
Using this information, HRNZ will gain an insight into industry trends, preferred communication methods, areas where harness racing can be improved and much more. We will also be looking to develop programmes in the coming seasons to better serve owners and the industry as a whole from the information received in this survey.
By having your say, you're giving us the information, knowledge and ability to initiate change within the industry we love so much.
The survey will take just 5 - 10 minutes. Whether you live and breathe harness racing, or only attend on NZ Trotting Cup Day, we welcome your feedback. Please feel free to forward this email onto anyone else that may want to have their say.
CLICK HERE for the survey
NZSBA Response to Australian Breeding Consultation Paper
NZSBA has sent a very strong protest to Harness Racing Australia’s (HRA) consultation paper on enhancing breeding in Australia. The paper proposes a A$5,000 import fee on all NZ Colts and Geldings and A$1,500 of fillies and 4 YO mares. Others pay $250. Registration fees for colts conceived using imported semen will be A$500 higher than Australian based stallions with fillies $250 higher.
Kiely Buttell, NZSBA’s Executive Manager, said:
“We think that there are serious legal and trade issues associated with this proposal’. It appears to us to be a de facto tariff imposed in breach of the 29 year-old Closer Economic Relations Treaty between Australia and New Zealand.”
NZSBA has also raised anti-competitive and unlawful taxation issues in its complaint.
“We will be seeking advice from the relevant New Zealand government ministers of racing, competition and trade.”
Harness Racing Australia proposed to raise A$2 million a year through the scheme to contribute to the payment of service fees for breeders who used Australian based stallions. A mare will earn credits for wins during its racing career that were the paid to studs for service fees.
Over 770 horses were sold to Australia with about 1,200 semen doses exported. NZSBA estimates that the trade in horses and semen to be worth $20 million. It would be seriously harmed if this proposal is voted into harness racing regulation by the state controlling bodies in October.
NZSBA Letter to Harness Racing Australia
Follow this
link to view the letter recently sent to Harness Racing Australia re the recommendations outlined in their Australian Breeding Report.
Harness Racing Australia - Australian Breeding Industry report
The Australian Standardbred Breeding Panel’s (ASBA) “Report On The Australian Breeding Industry” was presented to the HRA Executive on Friday, 22 July 2011 by Panel Chairman, Mr John Bagshaw.
The Executive approved release of the full Report for public comment by 31 August 2011 in advance of consideration by Members at the HRA Annual General Meeting on 10 October 2011.
Click
here to read report in full.
HRNZ representative report
This report from the latest HRNZ Board meeting is available to members only, click
here to log in
. Not a member? Click
here to join.
NZSBA Business plan and Performance Report
One
of the NZSBA Strategies outlined in the 2011/12 Business Plan is to
increase communication to participants in the industry.
Click
here to view the NZSBA Business Plan to 31st July 2011 and click
here to view Performance Report.
Crosses of Gold
We have just updated the
Crosses of Gold which can be found in this area.
Click here to be directed to login.
