The second running of the Heidi George Classic is set to kick off this week with heats at Echuca and Swan Hill.
The series created by Llowalong Farms principal Dr Kath McIntosh was designed to create an incentive to bring revenue to country clubs.
“I have been working at harness racing tracks for probably the best part of 15 years and I always sponsored the clubs,” Dr McIntosh said.
“Instead of just sponsoring I was looking to do something a little bit different to not only promote the club but promote our stallions and what we were doing.
“We put the concept to them about having a race series, which is named after our two daughters Heidi and Georgia, we have had it structured for mares only in a lower grade.
“The heat winners and the final winners all receive a free service to one of our stallions, and we have also given free services to all of our stallions to the club and they run a tender and that provides income back to the clubs.”
The winner of each heat and the final will get a free service to one of Llowalong Farms’ stallions.
“The winner of the final gets a free service to Poster Boy which will be sort after, because his book is now closed and we have a waiting list for this year and next,” she said.
“The two heat winners will get a service to Soho Tribeca and Raging Bull.”
The flow on effect from the series has helped the clubs continue to grow.
“We have found that last year people were taking one horse for the heat and take another so it helped their nominations across all the races,” she said.
McIntosh is excited on where the series will head moving into the future.
“I think it will keep gaining momentum, I think instead of having a single heat at Echuca and a single one at Swan Hill we may have to stump up a few more service fees and have multiple heats,” she said.
This year’s series will be run with heats at Echuca (September 22) and Swan Hill (October 1) before the final at Bendigo on October 9.
