What you need to know about Invercargill Cup day

It will be a big day when the Invercargill Harness Racing Club holds its Ascot Park Hotel Invercargill Cup Day at Ascot Park Raceway in Invercargill, on Saturday.

Top class racing, Ladies Fashion In The Field, and the opportunity to win $1000 to spend on the Cup plus a trip for 7 nights to the Peninsular Beachfront Resort in Mooloolaba are all part of the day.

The Ascot Park Hotel Invercargill Cup, the region's first ever Group 1 race, is Race 7 on the programme timed to start at 7.29pm.

The Cup winner will take home part of the region's biggest-ever stake of $100,000 but there will be plenty of other winners on track and around the track on Saturday.

Entries for Ladies Fashion In The Field are open until Race 3 with some great prizes up for grabs.

The six finalists all receive flowers from SuperValue Plaza while the first three receive:

1st : A $400 McLeay Jewellers voucher and a bottle of GH Mumm Champagne donated by Craig Heyrick of Harcourts Real Estate, Invercargill.

2nd : A $200 McLeay Jewellers voucher and a bottle GH Mumm Champagne from Craig Heyrick of Harcourts Real Estate Invercargill

3rd : A $100 McLeay Jewellers voucher and a bottle of GH Mumm Champagne from Craig Heyrick of Harcourts Real Estate Invercargill

You will also see labelled buckets around the course so drop any losing tote tickets (with your name and phone number on the back) or the coupon in your race book into those buckets and we will make two draws throughout the day.

The first will be prior to Race 5 where we will allocate a lucky draw winner to each runner in that race. Should your runner finish first in race 5 you receive $1000 to bet on the Ascot Park Hotel Invercargill Cup. Second in race 5 competition gets $300 to spend on the Cup and third $200.

All those tickets get returned to the bucket for our second lucky draw later in the day so keep putting your losing tote tickets in the buckets until Race 8 when we will draw one more name from the bucket. That person will win 7 night’s accommodation at the Peninsular Beachfront Resort in Mooloolaba in a fully self-contained 3brm Executive Ocean view apartment to the value of $3150-(AUD) while the Beach Road Holiday Park in Invercargill will contribute $1000 to help you get there.

There will be more details in your racebook on race day.

Backing up the Cup will be a Group 3 race, the Cox Family David Moss Stakes Trot with a stake of $30,000.

The race meeting is a twilight event, ideal to attend even for those who work on a Saturday. There are ten races, the first at 4.19pm and the last at 8.49pm and admission is free.