Dubbo Harness Racing Club has made a bold move to revamp one of its signature races, The Gallagher Little Red Jug which is a feature at the Club’s unique Show Meeting this Friday night.
The race formerly was conducted as a heats and final series as part of the Carnival meetings in December each year however in consultation with Harness Racing New South Wales, the executive Board at Dubbo has made a significant change to the race whereby two qualifying heats will be run at the start of the program with the first five across the line to contest a $12,000 final, the last race of the night.
This concept was once a regular occurrence in harness racing throughout Australia and follows of the world-famous Little Brown Jug which is staged annually in Delaware, Ohio each September.
Club President and long-time stalwart of Dubbo harness racing John Lew believes the change is certain to attract a wider interest to the sport and will engage the large crowd that attends the local agricultural show, hopefully to attract a longer-term interest.
“When the idea was raised amongst our committee it was strongly supported, in the hope that we could create something different and more attractive to non-trotting people,” said Lew.
“It is always a big night for our Club being run in conjunction with the Annual Show so this race should add an extra flavour.”
The series certainly captured much interest, attracting pacers from various regions to compete in it.
Bathurst’s Amanda Turnbull is renowned for targeting the district’s feature races and heads into the Little Red Jug with A Little Bit Of Love and Rocknroll Raider who appear to be two of the leading chances, despite drawing poorly in their respective heats.
Turnbull is currently campaigning in Queensland, leaving stable foreperson Isobel Ross to represent her and undertake the driving duties.
Former Dubbo identity Troy Williams, who now trains a big team of pacers in Western Sydney, is returning to his hometown with three horses engaged throughout the program.
It is a rarity for Williams to drive in races these days usually, mostly engaging either Robbie Morris or Josh Gallagher to handle his team but he is driving two of his three runners on Friday night.
