Shucking good time at Ascot Park

The most Southland of fund-raisers will be held at Ascot Park this weekend, and it's all for Team Teal.

At Saturday's Northern Southland Trotting Club's Autumn Cup meeting at Invercargill the currency of the day will be oysters.

To raise money for Team Teal a total of 30 dozen oysters will be raffled. There will be six raffles of five dozen oysters each, drawn randomly throughout the day. The cost per ticket is $5.

The tickets will be sold in booked and hospitality areas only, including the Alabar owners' Room, and Gold Card areas.

The oyster season only opened on March 1, with retailers currently selling them for around $36 a dozen.

The day will feature some top quality racing including the $20,000 Autumn Cup, the $30,000 Group 3 Caduceus Club of Southland/Alabar Fillies Classic for the 3YOs, and heat three of the Alabar Supremacy Stakes for the 3YO Colts and Geldings.

The annual Teal Pants campaign finishes next Tuesday at Manawatu. So far around $10,000 has been raised over the past five weeks.

Money is raised every time a female driver (and her teal pants) wins a race in this country, through contributions by Harness Racing New Zealand, clubs and many other sponsors.

All proceeds go towards ovarian cancer research.

Seven female drivers will be in action on Saturday : Sarah O'Reilly, Ellie Barron, Sam Ottley, Kirstin Barclay, Kerryn Tomlinson, Katie Cox and Lauren Pearson.