HORSE RACING
It’s a rare occasion that a provincial track has the opportunity to host a $100,000 race.
But come 4.05pm tomorrow afternoon, Hawkesbury Race Club will get its chance.
The fourth of five $100,000 Provincial Series qualifying races will be held at Hawkesbury as part of The Championships.
The first three finishers in tomorrow’s heat will advance to the inaugural The Championships Provincial Final at Royal Randwick on April 11 to compete for a $300,000 purse.
The top three will join qualifiers from Wyong, Kembla Grange, Newcastle and Gosford in the final.
Only horses trained exclusively in each provincial area are eligible for the Provincial Championship Series – giving Hawkesbury trainers a shot at the lucrative prizemoney on offer.
Hawkesbury Race Club CEO Brian Fletcher said it was an exciting event for the area.
“It’s a great opportunity having a $100,000 race here,” he said.
“It’s prizemoney for a race that we couldn’t afford to put on personally but thanks to the NSW Government and Racing NSW we were able to have it.
“It’s good, it’s exciting. And it’s restricted to provincial trainers so hopefully it will be won by one of our local trainers.”
Fletcher said the club was expecting a large turnout.
“We’re hoping there will be a couple of thousand turn up,” he said.
“We’ve got nearly 400 booked into our main function centre and we’vealso got a members draw on to attract our members.
“The race meeting is also raising money for Camp Quality. We’re very excited – it should be a great day.”
A free gourmet barbeque will be available for everyone that turns up on course, with The X Factor trio Brothers3 performing near the barbeque area from 2.55pm.
This year’s The Championships will be held on April 4 and 11 at Royal Randwick where the 12 grand finals of Australian Thoroughbred racing will take centre stage.
The Championships will include eight Group 1 events as well as the inaugural Provincial and Country Championship finals.
Racing at Hawkesbury starts at 1pm tomorrow with the Provincial Series qualifying event (race 6 – 1400m) to jump at 4.05pm.
