Southland primed for Big Money March

Today marks the start of a brand new harness racing promotion – “Big Money March”.

Southern Harness has announced that half a million dollars in stakes will be on offer over the month (and a day as it turns out).

“It is Southland’s biggest money month, and there are four Group races,” says Southern Harness Racing General Manager Jason Broad, "and of the five meetings four will have stakes in excess of $100,000.”

A change to programming has impacted on the timing of the last of the five meetings though.

The Wyndham Harness Racing Club Kindergarten Stakes meeting was originally scheduled for Young Quinn Raceway, Wyndham on Wednesday March 31 but has now been put back a day to April 1, though it’s still officially part of “Big Money March”. As well as the 58th running of the $25,000 Kindergarten Stakes the day will also feature the $15,000 MLT/Three Rivers Wyndham Cup, a qualifying race for the Southland Country Cup series.

The first of the “Big Money March” meetings will be the Riverton Trotting Club’s meeting at Central Southland Raceway in Winton this Thursday (March 4) and will include $12,000 Trotting and Pacing Free For Alls over a mile.

The Northern Southland Trotting Club are hosting a Premier Raceday on Saturday March 13 at Ascot Park, Invercargill with three Group Three races - the $25,000 Pryde’s Easifeed Southern Lights Handicap Trot, the $25,000 Caduceus Club of Southland/Alabar 2 year old Fillies Classic , and the Yaldhurst Hotel Northern Southland Trotting Cup. Total stakes for the day are $170,000.

On Saturday March 20 the Winton Harness Racing Club have boosted stakes for this meeting and will host the $20,000 Southern Belle Speed Series Mares Final and $20,000 Winton Businesses Cup at Central Southland Raceway.

An Industry day follows on March 25 when the Invercargill Harness Racing Club will race at Ascot Park for stakes of $76,000.

“All these meetings are a great opportunity for horses to qualify, and substantially boost their stakes for the Southland Oaks, the Southern Supremacy Stakes and the Harness Jewels,” says Broad.

“We look forward to hosting horses in the south for Big Money March”.