Clarification around new "transitional" season

Letter to the industry from Harness Racing New Zealand Chief Executive Gary Woodham

Just days into the new season there seems to be some confusion as to what the “new” season is.

The new TRANSITIONAL season started on August 1 2021 and will go through to December 31 2021. There will not be a separate drivers’ or trainers’ premiership for this period.

All wins though will be included in official Harness Racing New Zealand statistics, as per usual.

The 2020-21 premierships have already been decided, after the season finished on July 31 2021.

The next premierships will be decided during the calendar year from January 1 – December 31 2022 to align with the change of horses’ birthdays to January 1 2022.

One question that’s been asked is : “Does that mean a 2021 New Zealand Cup win wouldn't count as a win towards the premiership?"

Correct, the answer is it will NOT as there is no premiership as part of the TRANSITIONAL period.

But we want to emphasise the fact that this is very much a one-off.

From January 1 2022 everything should be much more straight forward.

All the best

Gary