THE world’s richest harness race is really starting to hot up.
The inaugural $2.1 million TAB Eureka is still almost eight months away, but some slot holders are already detailing their plans.
Speculation is rife who will snag big guns like Captain Ravishing, Leap To Fame, Catch A Wave, The Lost Storm or School Captain for their slots, but nothing is locked in stone yet.
It’s fascinating stuff.
What we have seen is some passion and strong local support declared from two slot holders – Tasracing and Wayne and Julie Loader.
“Everywhere I go, people are asking me about the TAB Eureka or talking about it,” Harness Racing Australia CEO Andrew Kelly said.
“We said we went out to tender for the 10 slot holders that promoting the TAB Eureka and harness racing more broadly were key elements and we’re certainly seeing that coming through already.
“It’s all part of the overarching aim to have the TAB Eureka talked-about 24 hours, seven days a week and 365 days a year.”
Tasracing was first to go public on December 30 with confirmation its slot for the TAB Eureka on September 2 would be filled by a Tasmanian pacer.
It was confirmed the winner of an $80,000 qualifying race over 2090m at Hobart on either August 5 or 6 with the date subject to Sky Racing availability.
In line with the TAB Eureka criteria, the Tasmanian qualifier will be restricted to three and four-year-old pacers only, but key to supporting the local industry is:
- All horses must be Tasbred or 100 percent owned by Tasmanian residents for no less than 12 months prior to the TAB Eureka on September 2, 2023.
- They must also be trained by a licensed Tasmanian trainer for no less than six months prior to the TAB Eureka being run.
Despite Tasracing, like all slot holders, having a slot for the first three years, it has only locked-in to this qualifying process for 2023 and will review it post the running of the TAB Eureka.
Leviathan NSW-based owners Wayne and Julie Loader announced early this week they should be “sharing the love” with their TAB Eureka slot.
Through the Western Jewel TAB Eureka slot holder race book competition, lucky racegoers get the chance to share in two percent of any prize money to lucky racegoers from selected regional NSW race meetings.
“When the whole idea of the TAB Eureka came forward, it was about how best to promote our sport,” Wayne Loader told HRNSW. “I thought we could give back to the community in a way and promote the idea through our Carnival of Cups meetings in the Western District.
“We will also be giving away another two per cent share to a charity that we will announce when the winner of the lucky race book competition is revealed.”
In a nutshell, one person is drawn out of the lucky race book competition across eight meetings. They go into an overall draw where one of them will snare the two per cent of any prize money the Loaders’ slot runner banks in the TAB Eureka.
If the growing speculation is right, it should be too long until we have our first big name runner for one of the slot holders.
Stay tuned ... and expect plenty of chatter until then.
