I would just like to applaud NSW's recent change to make all friday night races at Menangle fixed price betting. I believe Harness Racing Australia needs to do this for as many major meetings at possible eg. Melton, Albion and Gloucester park on friday and saturday nights to compete with the thoroughbred code who have fixed odds betting on all races at major meetings ie. Saturday afternoons.

I say this because due to the large number of races in Australia most of the betting on harness racing say 80% of the pool occurs in the last 5minutes before the race closes, which means the dividends fluctuate a great deal. This can lead to a horse paying $6 5mins before the race closing at $2.50 which is very frustrating for large punters after being burnt a couple of times with changing dividends many will just give up punting harness racing. However fixed odds betting allows punters to know what price they will get straight away and takes the guesswork out of predicting what runners the money will come for.

Having grown up on NZ harness racing this was not such a big issue as there were generally a maximum of two harness meetings on a fri night and a doggies meeting meaning most money is invested prior to the final 5 minutes and pools were a lot larger so dividends wouldn't change as much. Although I live in Brisbane I am now spending most of my investment on Menangle on a friday as fixed odds gives me the peace of mind to know what price I am getting when I place my bet. I know Melton have fixed odds on a friday as well but these only open 20mins before each race.

I would be interested to hear what oher peoples thoughts are on this are you happy with the current system or would more fixed odds betting entice you to spend more of your weekly wagering on harness or come back to harness racing?