Traditionally the harness racing season and the trainers & drivers premiership has run from 1 September through to 31 August each year. Recently though, Australian Harness Racing announced a change to the racing season now being conducted from 1 January to 31 December.
This announcement prompted Harness Racing NSW (HRNSW) to bring the trainers & drivers premierships in line with the racing calendar meaning that they have extended the state-wide 19/20 premierships to now end on 31 December 2020.
Individual Clubs have been given autonomy to decide how they manage their own local premierships.
Newcastle Harness Racing Club has decided to acknowledge the leading trainer & driver as at 31 August 2020 for the 2019 / 2020 season rather than extending the premiership to a 16 month period. We congratulate Nulkaba trainer, Clayton Harmey as the leading trainer at Newcastle Paceway with 83 wins and Blake Hughes as the leading driver with 64 winning drives from the Aberdare young gun at Newcastle Paceway. Club Secretary, Wayne Smith said “we felt it was unfair to move the goal posts after the season had ended, both Clayton and Blake are deserving of their accolades and we don’t won’t to take that away from them. If we extended our season to 31 December, historical records would not accurately reflect a comparison of annual results.”
“That being said, we will have to move our next annual premiership season into line with the racing season 1 January to 31 December 2021. That leaves almost 4 months between now and the end of 2020 where we have a unique opportunity to run a one-off short season premiership with adapted eligibility to encourage competitiveness amongst our local participants”, said Mr Smith.
Commencing from Friday 4 September, Newcastle Harness Racing Club will launch The Score Up! - a short season pointscore for trainers and drivers running until the end of December 2020, whereby only the first starter or drive at a race meeting is eligible for a point should that horse win. “We hope this might give some of the smaller stables and hobbyists the opportunity to be more competitive and make the history books for this one-off short season”, said Smith.
Conditions for The Score Up! are outlined below and we’ll keep you updated on the weekly pointscore via our website and on our Facebook page. Good luck to all our local participants.
THE SCORE UP! CONDITIONS
The Score Up! will be a short season premiership following national changes to the racing season that has seen the racing season move to a January to December timeframe.
The Score Up! will be conducted at race meetings held at Newcastle Paceway under auspices of the Newcastle Harness Racing Club between 1 September and 31 December 2020.
Only wins will be considered, no placings.
In the event of a dead heat for first place the win will be split equally between the dead heaters.
A single point will be awarded for each eligible win
Points will be awarded on the trainers and drivers FIRST starter at the eligible race meetings.
The Score Up-Trainers will be open to all trainers competing at eligible race meetings as described above.
The Score Up-Drivers will be open to all drivers competing at eligible race meetings as described above.
Example
A Trainer or Driver has one starter at the eligible race meeting and places first (1st), the Trainer or Driver will be awarded one point in The Score Up! respective premiership.
A Trainer or Driver has multiple starters at the eligible race meeting and places third (3rd) with their first starter , The Trainer or Driver will not be eligible for any points on the third (3rd) placing and will be ineligible for points on any further wins that may be achieved at that race meeting.
At the time of writing a winning prize is to be determined.
In the event of the respective The Score Up! premierships finishing with equal or multiple winners the prize will be divided amongst the winners.