Provincial Championships Series receives major upgrade
PUNTERS love betting on the Provincial Championships Series, but over the past few years the heats have garnered very little attention, but a solution has been found.
Instead of hiding away on a Sunday meeting, the Provincial Championship Heats will be run on consecutive Saturday’s, in the hopes to boost the attention of the series and also get people through the gates on track.
Since the introduction of The Championships, both the Country and Provincial Championships Series have failed to attract crowds and betting turnover hasn’t been as high as many had predicted, but Provincial Clubs chairman David Jewell said switching the heats to five consecutive Saturday’s is a major upgrade for the clubs.
“It gives us another meeting to sell to the public as it is easier for them to come to the races on a Saturday and the dates will be linked in with carnival days in Sydney,” Jewell said.
“The clubs will be able to attract more sponsors and help build the momentum towards The Championships while showcasing the best horses from the provincial area.”
The Provincial Championships start on May 3 at Hawkesbury, with meetings with Wyong, Gosford, Kembla Grange and Newcastle to follow. Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys gave credit to Newcastle-based trainer Kris Lees for the initial idea.
“It was a good idea from Kris and will make for a greater community focus for those meetings, which racing has traditionally had,” V’landys said.
Kris Lees is based in Newcastle and recently won the Group 1 Doomben Cup with Sense Of Occasion.
Huge thrill to win a G1 race with this horse and his Newcastle owners #LeesRacing @Coreyjockey https://t.co/9M1EayogNn
— Lees Racing (@Leesracing) May 20, 2017
Racing NSW is also looking at increasing the prizemoney to a potential $150,000, which could make the heats fall into the “premium” category.
Our take
This is great news for the Provincial Championships and great news for punters.
Quite often the heats get lost on a Sunday and many punters don’t even know they’re on, but having them on a Saturday will thrust them into the limelight and give punters a chance to follow the form throughout the series.
Increasing prizemoney for the heats is an obvious positive and it means connections won’t have to win the final to feel like they’ve won a big race. They’re always competitive races and we’re expecting record numbers of entrants next season.
The only downside to having the heats on a Saturday will be the lack of quality jockeys. The likes of Hugh Bowman and Tommy Berry were regular visitors to the provincial tracks on Sundays, but moving to Saturday will make it impossible for the big names to ride.
There’s nothing wrong with seeing the provincial jockeys in the saddle, but there will be plenty of disappointed jockeys when the final rolls around and they’ve been given the boot for one of the high profile hoops.
That’s only a small downside to a wonderful idea put forward by Kris Lees and executed by Racing NSW.