THE final nominations for this month’s Bathurst Gold Crown and Bathurst Gold Tiara race series have taken a huge leap.
In what is a tremendous show of industry confidence in the race series final noms have increased by 14 per cent (from 116 in 2017 to 132 in 2018).
The 32nd running of the prestigious series will get underway at the Bathurst Paceway on Friday March 23 with the running of the heats of the Gold Tiara.
Opening night will be followed by four more exciting race meetings, a huge yearling sale, the Mayoral Dinner, a wide variety of social functions and a golf day in what is always a challenging week for participants and visitors alike.
The series will come to it’s magical conclusion with the running of two Group 1 finals (Bathurst Gold Crown and Bathurst Gold Tiara) and two Group 3 Finals (Bathurst Gold Bracelet and Bathurst Gold Chalice) on Saturday March 31.
Bathurst Harness Racing Club CEO Danny Dwyer was naturally delighted with the boost in numbers.
"Any race series that has been running for as long as we have needs to work really hard to retain industry interest and support," he said.
"The Club has been talking to all of our key stakeholders about what we need to do to maintain that interest and clearly the initiatives we are outing in place are working."
Dwyer thought the introduction in particular of an Early Bird Payment Scheme has given the final numbers a good kick along.
He also thought the recent huge announcement from Harness Racing NSW had made a significant difference.
"Even though the $200,000 boost from Harness Racing NSW does not kick into next year’s series, it was another huge vote of confidence in what we are trying to do here at Bathurst," Danny said.
"It was an announcement that lifted the buzz around this Carnival even further and it was an announcement that everyone involved in the industry greatly appreciated."
And so with about a week to go it is fair to say that all roads will soon be leading to Bathurst.
