Rich four-year-old series proposed

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33069, 9 November 1972, Page 8

Rich four-year-old series proposed

A four-year-old championship with heats worth S3OOO and a $20,000 final is envisaged in the 1973-74 season.

Preliminary discussions on such a championship were held yesterday between members of the executive of the Trotting Conference and the presidents of the major clubs in the four main centres. The four presidents are Messrs M. M. N. Comer (Auckland), R. A. McKenzie (Wellington), G. W. Blaxall (Metropolitan), and L. O. Shirley (Forbury Park). The meeting decided that the championship would be run over three nights within 10 days at the main centres, said the conference president (Mr R. J. Rolfe, of Thames). “The series will be run each season in March or April and we will decide by ballot the order in which the four clubs will hold the championship,” he said.

Originally a smaller edition of the Inter-Dominion series was considered, but the difficulty of obtaining sufficient horses after heavy campaigns

from November until the end of January was considered too great. Also, many of the top pacers would be in Australia at the time it was proposed to run the series. The series would be open to Australian horses, said Mr Rolfe, and it would be left to the club running the series in a particular year to decide whether the whole series would be run under a shortlimit handicap system, or whether the mobile barrier would be used.

“It is intended to apply to the Racing Authority for a grant from the stakes subsidy pool,” he said. “Also it is intended that travel subsidies will be payable depending on the method of transport.

“The four presidents, who will now report back to their clubs, were ail enthusiastic in their support of the scheme, which will be a great incentive for owners and breeders. Not only will it be a boost for the. clubs concerned, but for trotting, and all clubs will be asked to participate in some form or other,” he said.