The Cobar Miners Race Club is expecting big quality fields of horses for their Picnic Race meeting on August 26.
Club president Jarrod Marsden said thanks to the new NSW Picnic Champion Series, which kicked off last October, he expects lots of trainers will be looking to bring their horses to race at Cobar to collect championship points.
“Cobar is the last meeting for horses to earn points towards the $50k prize and the leader board is pretty tight so we should see big fields of top quality horses all vying for points,” Mr Marsden said.
The Picnic Champion Series Final will be held on Dubbo Gold Cup Day, just a fortnight after Cobar’s Picnic Meeting with Racing NSW providing $50,000 in prize money.
Deidre Adam, secretary of the NSW Picnic Racing Association, said she is delighted Racing NSW has backed the concept.
“We expect this series to generate quite a bit of interest and to also improve horse attendance at our picnic race meetings,” she said.
“Instead of the qualifying heats in the Country and Provincial Championships, picnic horses will acquire points at every picnic race meeting in which they compete.
“The highest ranked horses at the end of the 12-month period will be eligible to nominate for the Picnic Champion Series Final.”
All horses except maidens will be eligible.
Ms Adam said picnic clubs sometimes have problems securing Approved Riders for their race meetings and they believe this concept will provide motivation for riders to attend these meetings.
“As further incentive, the NSW Picnic Racing Association will also offer a significant bonus for the riders that attend the most meetings for the year,” she said.
