By tomorrow evening nine Victorian horses will no longer carry the ‘maiden’ tag.
It’s the annual Humbletonian Day at Maryborough, a meeting for Vicbred-only horses who have never won a race.
These are horses that have been paid up for the popular Vicbred program, meaning their connections have invested in the local industry.
For their commitment, every horse that breaks its duck tomorrow will receive a plethora of bonuses on top of the $7000-per-race prizemoney for the nine-event card.
Harness Racing Victoria (HRV) has announced it will deliver a $1000 breeding certificate to the winning owners of each race.
The $9000 extra commitment to the breeding industry comes after HRV delivered $133,500 worth of breeding stimulus to connections during May and June via mares’ races and the recent Vicbred Super Series.
“The breeding certificates have been extremely popular with recipients and the feedback we’ve received is that they’ll make a genuine difference with how those connections approach next breeding season,” HRV General Manager Racing Steve Bell said.
Given all runners are Vicbred eligible at ‘Humbletonian’ Day, every winner will also snare a Vicbred First Win Bonus with $63,000 available.
All two-, three- and four-year-old winne
rs will get a $7000 cash bonus, while five-year-old and older horses receive $3500.
The event’s long-term naming rights partner, Harness Breeders Victoria (HBV), will donate a $250 cash bonus to the breeder for each of the nine winners on the day.
The Maryborough Harness Racing Club will offer a cash bonus of $250 to the winning breeder of the six pacing races if those people are on-course to claim their loot, while the Victorian Square Trotters Association is offering the same bonus for the three trotting events.
The host club will also donate a Claire Weston Photography framed memento for every winner.
HRV Trots Media will have Paul Campbell on-course for Trots Vision viewers, interviewing winning connections post-race at thetrots.com.au.
Race 1 is scheduled for 12.47pm, with the last set down for 5.30pm.
Photos: From top, Atego Titan (trainer Tony Berg and driver Mark Hayes), Explicit Castle (trainer Andy Gath and driver Kate Gath) and Jamieson Steele (trainer Ken Ward and driver David Miles) all won on Humbletonian Day last year. Pics by Stuart McCormick.
