The Tasmanian Pacing Club has changed the format of the $100,000 Tasmania Cup which will now be run under mobile conditions with a preferential barrier draw. The club cited betting turnover as the major reason but in my opinion it was a change that needed to be made anyway. Over the past few years, the race has only attracted minimal Grand Circuit class horses with the remainder of the field being comprised of standard Metropolitan class horses and if it was to retain its Group 1 status then that had to change. Plus with the race usually closely following the Victoria Cup it should allow a natural progression for more big guns to now head over Bass Strait and chase further riches and a Group 1 victory.
The full story is available via the TasRacing website:
http://www.tasracing.com.au/harness/news/latest_news/12896283
The meeting set down for the evening of Boxing Day is now a cracker with the Group 1 Tasmania Cup, the $50,000 George Johnson FFA for the mares and the $20,000 Tasmanian Guineas for the 3 year olds all being run on the program. It should ensure the meeting attracts a high percentage of the nations best open class pacers as well as the mares seeking black type in the George Johnson and a few might even bring a good 3yo with them with a $20,000 race on the card. It also follows on perfectly from the Launceston meeting the preceding week which has a $50,000 FFA (also a mobile start), a $20,000 mares race and a $20,000 3yo race on that card. There are also three $20,000 races at Devonport the week prior to the Launceston meeting including another for open class mares so if I had a good class mare then I would definitely be heading to Tassie early.
Might have to book some tickets and head home for a couple of weeks as looks certain to be some great racing.
I still wish they named one of the feature Tasmanian races in honour of the former champ Halwes, the $50,000 City of Launceston FFA run the week prior to the Tasmania Cup would be ideal in my opinion. The name Halwes is synonymous with greatness in Harness Racing right across the country so he deserves a race named in his honour that befits his ability and its something I would love to see. Just call the race "The Halwes" and the name itself will infer quality when participants simply see it in the calendar. Thats another story though and the main point of this post was to congratulate the powers that be in Tasmania for programming a very good fortnight of racing.
