The central west has a new venue for harness racing with it being officially announced on Friday that Orange’s Towac Park will host two meetings next month.
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A final trial run was done on Friday, while officials from Racing Orange, Orange Harness Racing Club, Harness Racing NSW and Orange City Council’s were all in attendance for the official announcement
The announcement comes a fortnight after Harness Racing NSW stewards Grant Adams and Michael Zarb gave the Orange track its final ticks of approval and the inaugural meetings on the grass track – on February 5 and 12 – will be held as scheduled, full steam ahead.
Commonplace in New Zealand, it’s been a long, long time since NSW hosted a trots meet on a grass track, making the move a groundbreaking moment in racing history.
“[The move is] about having a presence here, we at Harness Racing NSW didn’t want to see the sport move away from Orange,” Harness Racing NSW chief executive officer John Dumesny explained.
“We suffered from the fact we had to move two meetings to [Bathurst] last year.
“But we’re back, we’re here and we’re very thankful to the council who showed strong support … and also to Racing NSW for allowing us to use Towac Park.”
Dumesny said there’s no fears the two meets scheduled – firstly a trial meet, then the Orange Carnival of Cups – will be the first of few, he explained there’s little chance of harness racing at Towac Park being a novelty and fizzling out over time.
“Not at all,” he said.