Cambridge winter meetings off to promising start

By Michael Guerin

Harness racing is about to find out whether one good harness meeting trumps two average ones.

And the first indications suggest that might potentially be the case.

Harness Racing New Zealand has started a winter trial holding just one meeting a week in the north, alternating between Alexandra Park and Cambridge on Fridays, rather than running meetings on Thursday and Friday at both venues, as has been the case more often than not in the last 18 months.

The move guarantees consistent Friday night racing in the north to complement Addington during harness racing’s prime punting hours of the week.

But that does mean one less meeting most weeks on a Thursday, raising the obvious question: what is better for the industry’s finances, two smaller meetings or one big one?

“The answer would be two big meetings every week in the north but the reality is we don’t have the numbers for that, particularly in winter,” says HRNZ’s Head of Racing and Wagering Matt Peden.

“So this trial for winter will give us more data on whether we can attract more betting with one meeting with larger fields than two meetings with smaller fields.”

This Friday’s Cambridge meeting is a very promising starting point, with 11 races and over 130 horses, rare numbers of the north at this time of the season.

“Larger fields mean better turnover, we know that for sure, and by optimising the North Island horse population available at this time of the year we think we can drive just as much, hopefully more, turnover than two meetings with less races and smaller fields would,” says Peden.

Smaller fields can lead to odds-on favourites, which are often poor for turnover, while there is also the question of expense, not just for HRNZ but industry participants.

“Opening one venue for 11 races costs a lot less than opening two venues for six or seven races 24 hours apart,” explains Peden.

Those savings also extend to horsepeople, who can race six or eight horses at one meeting with one set of costs than taking those same horses to two meetings with three or four per night.

Peden reaffirms the trial run is for winter only but the data will be fascinating to see whether it makes more sense to have great Friday night product rather than struggling to fill fields at the two venues on both nights year round.

The trial does raise one potential headache that could force a schedule change on Trackside TV bosses.

They are very happy with the success of their Out The Gate programme on Thursday nights, which they believe is bringing a new audience to the industry.

That is hard to argue with as when Out The Gate recently took a break the standard Thursday night coverage seemed a step backwards by comparison.

But one of the reasons for Out The Gate’s appeal has been the punting on and crossover between greyhound and harness racing.

One of those things will sadly be no more come August 1 while the longer term future of harness racing on Thursdays in the north could at least be open to debate if this winter trial is a success.

So Out The Gate with its national betting pool might need a new home if Cambridge aren’t back up and running on Thursdays by spring.

At this stage though it is planned they will be, with harness racing meetings scheduled for Cambridge most Thursdays starting September 10.

To see Friday's fields at Cambridge click here