Smoken Up is not eligible for this Saturday Nights $400,000 AG Hunter Cup under the Conditions of the race
Following some ill-informed reports that have surfaced over the past few days, Harness Racing Victoria (HRV) thought it necessary to issue a statement and clarify the reasons why Smoken Up has been deemed ineligible to start in this Saturday Night’s $400,000 AG Hunter Cup.
In every year since 2007, it has been a condition of the AG Hunter Cup that ‘A horse must have contested and began safely in a minimum of one standing start race in the 12 months prior.’
This condition was recommended by an Industry Consultative Group (the Strategic Planning Advisory Group consisting of representatives from Industry Stakeholder Groups) to HRV and was approved by the HRV Board in 2007 following a number of Hunter Cups where horses with little or no standing start experience in the previous 12 months had begun badly in the race and caused severe interference to other runners at the start of the event.
In 2013, this is the sixth successive year where this Condition has applied to the AG Hunter Cup. This condition is printed clearly in the Racing Information section of the December 2012 Harness Racer and is also listed in the race programme on the www.harness.org.au website.
The last time that Smoken Up contested a standing start race was back in November 2011 (over 14 months ago) when he finished 2nd in the New Zealand Trotting Cup.
Given that Smoken Up has not contested a standing start race in the past twelve months, he does not meet the conditions of the 2013 Hunter Cup and is therefore ineligible to start in the great race.
Whilst HRV would have liked to have seen Smoken Up, the reigning Victorian Horse of The Year and Grand Circuit Champion in the 2013 AG Hunter Cup field, ultimately it is the responsibility of connections to read the Conditions pertaining to the event and to ensure that they comply with the eligibility criteria under those Conditions.
