Update from the Chair

Hi everyone,

I hope you have all managed to have a break from your routine over the past 6 weeks and at least stayed in bed a little longer in the morning. We are looking forward to being back racing on the 10th of August and hoping the field sizes will get us off to a good start. The late finish to racing last season and the timing of the Winter Rewards Finals in July 2022 definitely impacted spring racing numbers this past year but the Winter Rewards were a week earlier this year and there appears to be plenty of horses in work.

The major news is the announcement of the new funding for racing for the coming season and the increase of over $800,000 in stakes available for the Southern Harness Clubs and a further $228,000 Regional Fund available to the Southern Region (south of the Waitaki). The use of this fund is to be decided by the Programming committee.

Whilst you will have noticed that there is still some low stake racing on the programmes initially, it is hoped to give all rating bands some opportunities to race at higher stake levels through the season. Jason will keep everyone informed as we roll along this process.

At a governance level Murray Little and I have joined a club-driven working group looking at options for new governance models for our industry in the future. You will be kept informed as this progresses.

I look forward to seeing you in the next couple on months as we have the AGM schedule started already and we are hosting an Industry meeting on the 18^th August to discuss the Survey we completed in the winter.

Best of the Luck for the new season
Penny Baynes