HARNESS RACING VICTORIA, 400 Epsom Rd, Flemington, 03 8378 0200, askhrv@hrv.org.au
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HRV ROADSHOWS TO UPDATE INDUSTRY, ANSWER QUESTIONS
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Harness Racing Victoria will host four roadshows in March and April to provide a status update and answer the industry’s questions.
HRV chair Bernard Saundry and chief executive officer Matt Isaacs will welcome all those passionate about harness racing in Victoria to the first series of roadshows, which will be at Mildura (March 16), Melton (March 17), Ballarat (March 18), and Shepparton (April 3).
Isaacs said the roadshows would be an opportunity to update the industry on the pathway to sustainability and talk through challenges and opportunities.
“Harness racing in Victoria is going through significant change, and this will be an opportunity to update on the progress, talk about the challenges, and discuss the opportunities. I want to make a special thanks to our host venues for making their great facilities available,” Isaacs said.
Saundry, who began as HRV chair in October, said the roadshows were a chance to review the industry’s progress and talk about the next steps.
“We will provide information about the necessary changes that have been made but are more looking forward to hearing from the industry about their priorities,” Saundry said.
The first series of roadshows will be held at the following:
- Mildura Harness Racing Club (1 Twelfth St, Mildura): Sunday, March 16, 5pm
- Melton Entertainment Park (2 Ferris Rd, Melton): Monday, March 17, 7pm
- Ballarat & District Trotting Club (Bell St, Redan): Tuesday, March 18, 7pm
- Shepparton Harness Racing Club (7580 Goulburn Valley Hwy, Kialla): Thursday, April 3, 7pm
For those who can’t attend in person, the Melton roadshow on Monday, March 17, will be streamed live on www.trotsvision.com.au.
To RSVP for a roadshow, please CLICK HERE
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GREATS TO BE HONOURED AT VIC RACING AWARDS AT MELTON IN MAY
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The next Gordon Rothacker Medallist, Living Legend and Victorian Horse of the Year will be among the winners revealed at a Melton Entertainment Park celebration on May 26.
The annual Victorian Harness Racing Awards will honour those who have excelled on and off the track and will be celebrated with a sit-down cocktail dinner at Melton on the race-free Monday night.
Harness Racing Victoria chair Bernard Saundry said it would be an opportunity to stop and celebrate the sport’s best performers and contributors.
“Harness racing in Victoria has horses, participants and servants as good as anywhere in the world, and we want to make sure the best of them are honoured appropriately,” Saundry said.
“This special, annual celebration at Melton will be a chance to do just that, including adding a 25th name to the Gordon Rothacker Medal honour roll.”
After consultation with stakeholder representatives, HRV has programmed the awards dinner on a race-free Monday night to allow all industry members the opportunity to celebrate. Tickets for the night will go on sale in April.
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NOMINATE A HARNESS RACING IN VICTORIA GREAT FOR THE GORDON ROTHACKER MEDAL
HRV is calling for nominations for the Gordon Rothacker Medal, which has an extraordinary honour roll.
The selection panel will award the medal after considering the final criteria:
- Contribution to harness racing in Victoria, including positions held
- Career achievements
- Length of industry involvement
- Voluntary or paid key positions within the industry
- Demonstrated excellence within a chosen field
- Service as a role model/mentor
- Integrity
To nominate someone for consideration, please email the name of the nominee and consider the above criteria in providing a summary of supportive information (achievements, positions held in the industry, length of service) to Michael Howard (mhoward@hrv.org.au) by close of business on Friday, March 28.
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PRINCIPLES GUIDE THINKING AS FY26 RACING CALENDAR IS CONSTRUCTED
Harness Racing Victoria's racing calendar for the 25-26 season is under construction. It will be designed to optimise wagering revenue, prioritise welfare, and cut costs, helping the industry return to sustainability.
The calendar will build on changes made in '24-25, which featured more consistent Tuesday-Sunday racing.
Seven guiding principles infom decision-making. They are:
- Wagering turnover is the primary focus to drive industry income
- Sky Racing 1 availability is a priority
- Regional split is based on horse population and participant needs
- Detailed regional allocation for meeting rotation
- Regional racing slots to drive wagering and avoid low starters per race
- Exploration of vacant timeslots to maintain wagering share
- Maintain existing feature race dates and community alignment
The principles were shared with stakeholder bodies and country clubs, whose responses are being considered in the construction of the new calendar.
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KERRYN MANNING AND THE GROWING INFLUENCE OF WOMEN IN SPORT
Champion reinswoman Kerryn Manning believes the acceptance of female participation on the racetrack has been widely acknowledged as the norm by her male counterparts in the harness racing industry.
The most successful female driver in the world, with 4299 career wins, Manning has been an integral part of a second wave of women pioneers, mixing it with the men both on and off the track since the late 1980s.
“In my early days, I drove a horse one day at Horsham, and the trainer didn’t think much of my drive and told me ‘to get back to the kitchen’,” laughed Manning. “I thought it was quite funny because Mum is a good cook and I didn’t go near the kitchen until it was time to eat.”
Manning and her female colleagues began changing the narrative more than 35 years ago.
“Jodi (Quinlan), along with Gaita Pullicino, Rita Burnett, and Lisa Justice, were starting to build a profile for women drivers, and then came along Kate (Gath), who has won many big races and the metropolitan drivers' premiership,” she said.
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NEIL ALLEN'S DREAM FULFILLED AS RAKERO REBEL CLAIMS GEELONG CUP
Neil Allen wore a grin that was more than 50 years in the making after the Group 3 Apco Geelong Pacing Cup was taken out by the Jess Tubbs-trained mare Rakero Rebel.
The only mare in the field, Rakero Rebel was given the run of the race in the one-out one-back trail by Greg Sugars on the back of the $2.70 favorite Mach Dan, who wasn’t able to wrest the lead off Keayang Tokyo at the start.
Sugars bided his time before peeling out on straightening and Rakero Rebel ($3.70) produced her trademark strong finale to grab Mach Dan in the shadows of the post, scoring by half a neck on the line.
A former long-standing president of the Geelong club, an elated Allen was still shaking minutes after the race.
“I have been trying to win this race for more than 50 years and while I’ve had a few handy horses over the time I’ve never had one good enough to run in the Geelong Cup,” Allen said.
“I’m getting on in years and was looking for a horse that was up and running so Greg put me into this mare he found in New Zealand,” he said.
“He really liked her when she arrived, and he and Jess have done a great job developing her into one of the best mares going around.”
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Participant Industry Assistance Program - mental health & work/life support
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4000 REASONS TO SMILE AS 'THE CANDYMAN' REFLECTS ON A SPECIAL JOURNEY
A trip to the US in 2002 set Greg Sugars along the pathway to a stellar career in the sulky.
The 40-year-old Sugars joined elite company when he steered the mare Festinalente to victory at Bendigo last week for his 4000th Australian winner.
Sugars now sits comfortably alongside the likes of Chris Alford, the late Gavin Lang, Kerryn Manning and John Caldow to have surpassed the milestone figure in his adopted state.
“I was 18 when I went and spent six months in America. I saw how professional it was over there, and it taught me how I had to be to make it in the sport here in Australia,” Sugars said.
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AUSTRALIAN TROTTING GRAND PRIX TO CARRY JUST BELIEVE'S NAME
One of harness racing’s most loved and celebrated horses now has his name attached to one of Victoria’s biggest squaregaiting features.
The Australian Trotting Grand Prix is to be known as the Just Believe Trotting Grand Prix, with confirmation the race will return to Group 1 status for its next running.
Just Believe was officially retired from racing in January, bringing the curtain down on an incredible career that spanned more than five years, included 38 wins and reaped almost $2 million in prizemoney.
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DREAM TEAL TEAL SURGES PAST 50 WINS FOR WOMENCAN
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The fundraising race concludes on Saturday night when Australian harness racing’s female drivers don teal pants for the final time this campaign in support of WomenCan.
The Team Teal movement, launched by Duncan McPherson in Victoria to honour his late wife Lyn, has raised more than $3.1 million to pioneer gynaecological cancer research, prevention, and education programs.
Kicking off on February 1, Team Teal has briskly notched up victories, with ambassadors Kerryn Manning, Kate Gath, Jackie Barker, and Ewa Justice adding to the total, along with fellow sulky stars Ellen Tormey, Regan Clarke, Tasmyn Potter, Hannah Parish, Kylie Sugars, and more.
Cheer them on all the way to the finishing line!
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RECORD WAGERING ON HUNTER CUP/GREAT SOUTHERN STAR MEETING
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Punters backed the Sportsbet A. G. Hunter Cup and Yabby Dam Farms Great Southern Star meeting like never before.
The 2025 A. G. Hunter Cup was the most wagered-on Victorian harness race on modern record, with turnover up more than 30 per cent on last year’s feature.
The meeting was also Victoria’s sixth largest for overall turnover, up more than 14 per cent year-on-year with active users increasing.
Naming rights sponsor Sportsbet saw record wagering numbers on the time-honoured feature, which was won in track record time by Swayzee, revealing the Hunter Cup had its highest turnover for an Australian harness race.
It was also Sportsbet's fourth-highest turnover meeting of all time on harness, and it recorded its second-highest active customers on a trots card.
“Sportsbet was thrilled to partner with Harness Racing Victoria on Saturday evening for what was a truly memorable evening of harness racing at Melton Entertainment Park for the Sportsbet A. G. Hunter Cup,” Sportsbet’s Chief Commercial Officer Nathan Arundell said.
“Importantly, Sportsbet customers agreed with Saturday evening’s meeting, achieving year-on-year turnover growth of 31 per cent, including year-on-year growth of 50 per cent in the Sportsbet A. G. Hunter Cup - the highest turnover harness race in Sportsbet’s history. And what a race it was!”
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From HRV's racing office:
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Harness Racing Victoria’s first metropolitan three-year-old race will be contested this Saturday night at Melton Entertainment Park.
The race will mark the first of many juvenile and sophomore metropolitan races programmed in autumn by HRV’s racing department to provide more opportunity for younger horses, with two and three-year-old pacing and trotting races to be programmed fortnightly.
Program:
2YO pacers
Saturday, March 22 @ Melton: Premiere Stakes (RBD), $20,000, 1720m
Friday, April 4 @ Bendigo: Nutrien pacing heats (RBD, colts/fillies), $10,000, 2240m
Saturday, April 5 @ Melton: Metropolitan 2YO Pace (Sex), $15,000, 1720m
Friday, April 11 @ Melton: Nutrien Pacing Finals (RBD, colts/fillies), $200,000, 2240m
Saturday, April 19 @ Melton: Metropolitan 2YO Pace (MW), $15,000, 1720m
3YO pacers
Saturday, March 15 @ Melton: Garrards Horse & Hound (MW), $20,000, 1720m
Saturday, March 29 @ Melton: Metropolitan 3YO Pace (MW), $15,000, 1720m
Friday, April 4 @ Bendigo: Nutrien Pacing Heats (RBD, colts/fillies), $10,000, 2240m
Friday, April 11 @ Melton: Nutrien Pacing Finals (RBD, colts/fillies), $125,000, 2240m
Saturday, April 26 @ Melton: Metropolitan 3YO Pace (Sex), $15,000, 1720m
2YO trotters
Saturday, April 19 @ Melton: Metropolitan 2YO Trot (Sex), $15,000, 1720m
3YO trotters
Saturday, April 12 @ Melton: Metropolitan 3YO Trot (MW), $15,000, 2240m
Saturday, April 26 @ Melton: Metropolitan 3YO Trot (Sex), $15,000, 2240m
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Contact the Racing office on 03 8378 0291 from 7.30am-3.30pm weekdays or 8-9am weekends and public holidays, or email racing@hrv.org.au. For late scratchings or driver changes out of hours, leave a message on 03 9214 0650.
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From Pony Trots Victoria:
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The Pony Trots Hunter Cup had a great number of nominations, enabling the running of two divisions.
Six children, their ponies and families came across from South Australia to run in the races and experience Hunter Cup night.
The results were:
Final 1: 1st - Love Locket driven by Josie Williams, 2nd - Burnaholeinmybucket driven by Amelia Hodgson, 3rd - Lollipop driven by Ebony Mason.
Final 2: 1st - Pride of Petite driven by Addison Duryea, 2nd - Luna Star driven by Sebastian Carmichael, 3rd Super Mario driven by Sophie Jack.
Thanks also to our major sponsor Hygain!
The Trotting Grand Prix night saw the 2025 Metropolitan Championship series go to pony Burnaholeinmybucket driven by Amelia Hodgson. Ultra-consistent and with his own fan club, the pony also known as 'Bucky' was a popular and worthy winner.
Coming up, five Victorian ponies will compete in the NSW mini trot championships at Tamworth over Easter.
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More information, including the racing calendar, is available at www.ponytrotsvictoria.org.au or via email to ponytrotsvic@hrv.org.au.
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From HRV's integrity department:
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Harness Racing Victoria has adopted amendments to the Australian Harness Racing Rules and the Australian Trotting Stud Book regulations. These amendments will take effect on March 17. All individuals covered by the AHRR must familiarise themselves with the full list of amendments, which can be accessed on the HRA’s website. CLICK HERE
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From HRV's customer service, futurities and licensing:
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VICBRED FUTURITIES NOMINATIONS: Vicbred age acceptance payments closed on February 28. Late payments can still be made, however, fees will rise as the racing year advances. Please email info@hrv.org.au or call HRV customer service on 03 8378 0200 for more details. All information regarding Victorian futurities can be found at Breeders Barn - Harness Racing Victoria.
LICENCE RENEWALS: For participants who have not renewed it is not too late. Go to HarnessWeb to complete your licence today!
FOAL NOTIFICATIONS: We still have a large number of unnotified foals for Victorian stallions outstanding this season. Should you have an unnotified foal, email notifications and an SMS will be sent. Reminder: This can be completed online via HarnessWeb or by filling in a Foal Notification Form on the foal notification information page at thetrots.com.au and either email or send it by mail to HRV.
SURRENDER OF LEASES: Participants can now process a Surrender Of Lease online via HarnessWeb. Just like transfers and leases, all participants must accept and acknowledge the surrender so it can be completed.
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Contact the Customer Service Team on 03 8378 0200, 8.30am-5pm weekdays, or email info@hrv.org.au.
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HRV Communications
400 Epsom Road, Flemington, 3031
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