Owners of pacers trained by Otago and Southland trainers now have a new reason to head to New Zealand Cup Week in Christchurch.
The New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club will be programming a new race on Show Day (November 14), the second day of the harness section of New Zealand Cup Week, exclusively for horses trained south of the Waitaki River.
The race, worth $20,000, is for c1-c2 horses and will be a 2600m mobile pace for 4yr-old and older horses.
Addington marketing and commercial manager Ged Mooar visited several Southland trainers yesterday and said the idea had been ''very well received'' by the likes of Murray Brown, Tony and Clark Barron, Hamish Hunter, Nathan Williamson and Wayne Adams.
Mooar hoped, based on discussions with trainers, the nominations would be ample for the race to get off the ground.
''It's a look at revisiting the past and encouraging southern horses to come to the cup meeting,'' Addington racing secretary Brian Rabbitt said.
Horses must have been in an Otago or Southland trainer's name as of last Friday to be eligible for the race, which will be run with a preferential barrier draw for the mobile start.
