Vicbred Super Series’ move from December to September put breeding in the spotlight and saw increased turnover and participant involvement.
Harness Racing Victoria chief executive Matt Isaacs said Saturday night’s 12 Group 1s captured a wide audience and critically defied longer term trends of wagering softening.
Wagering on the 2023 series was up 4.5% on 2022, which was the third successive year the series had been held through the Christmas-New Year period.
Most notably, the finals night was up almost 20 per cent from when the same event was held on New Year’s Eve last year.
“A lot of planning and consideration, particularly by HRV’s racing department, went into moving Vicbred Super Series forward and it’s pleasing to see punters and fans have shown their support with a significant increase in engagement,” Isaacs said.
“Moving the series forward was also an opportunity to put our participants and breeders in the spotlight outside of the frenetic Christmas-New Year period, and it was great to see so many on course celebrating the wins of a lifetime, including great series supporters Alabar Farms and Haras des Trotteurs.”
HRV general manager of racing Stephen Bell said Victoria’s outstanding breeding series was fiercely competitive.
“A big motivation for the move from the holiday season to spring was responding to the preferences of trainers and drivers, with a survey finding three-quarters of last year’s participating trainers wanted the event moved,” Bell said.
Those findings have been further validated in this year’s numbers, with the most runners (387) accepted into series heats since 2017, including 230 pacers and a modern record of 157 trotters.
“The Vicbred Super Series is our peak celebration of grass roots breeding in Victoria and so it’s terrific that participants have engaged in such great numbers,” Bell said.
“Pleasingly, this series will also build momentum into some of the big two, three and four-year-old racing to come, include the pacing Derby and Oaks on Victoria Cup night (October 14), the Redwood Classic and trotters Derby at Maryborough on October 29 and, of course, the Breeders Crown, which runs from November 8 to 25.”