Id be happy with 4 and 8k are the end goal Wayne but the $5k C front needs to be done away with, no one should lose a country penalty for only a few hundred dollars more then they would receive winning in R class, and yes if R class needs to remain at $3500 for a while more to do it then so be it.

If the focus hasn't switched to a greater volume of R racing at slightly higher stakes at the expense of C racing then this is a poorly worded press release and should not have been published in isolation. I don't know what organisation were consulted, and this press release appears to fly in the face of David Martins earlier comments on this forum. At the risk of offending someone the VDTA response reads as organisational head nodding at something is better then nothing type stuff.

I am a breeder as well Wayne and a country harness racing economy based on $4000 restricted races will certainly have me rethinking joining mares in spring. Simply cannot justify the costs involved to produce to sell or pay training fees in a $4000 race economy.

No doubt the increase in restricted races has bought horses that were in the paddock back to the track, but how many more of these are there out there? How will $4000 races bring back more then $3500 races did, there are only so many of these horses that can be mobilised before the supply is exhausted. To offset or prevent a continuing fall in racing numbers then more horses need to be bred, there is a three year lag minimum in getting them to the track, addressing this has to start now, and for mine a guaranteed minimum country front goal of $7000 is the starting point to doing so.

The press release was big on stating this was about getting the money to the people that need it most, but is this really the way to do it, and who are the people who need it most. Seems as if only the raw total for R races have been taken into account and not the distribution to participants.

I'm happy to be proven wrong but all races have prizemoney to 5th and then the starters subsidy to each additional starter, so races with the most number of starters provide the poorest level of return to the greatest number of participants. From my observations R races often have less starters then C races, so in fact many R race level participants may be receiving a higher level of return ( not necessarily easier to win but easier to be in the places and earn prizemoney in a small field rather then the subsidy) then many C class participants racing in larger fields are. Those racing trotters appear to be most hard done by as these are often the largest fields. After $5000 C fronts are gone, maybe the next thing to do is to link the number of places paid out in a race to the number of starters and share the spoils around more evenly then occurs now.

HRNSW is building a new track in Wagga and they have stepped ahead of the rest of us with the introduction of prizemoney handicapping in Metro racing at Menangle and now mares racing. If the expansion of this format continues it is easy to see our C class horses at least in Northern Victoria after they have won their bonus racing at Wagga where the prizemoney handicapping format will see them "recycled" and their earning opportunities improved, unless we have a strong C class racing format that entices them to stay and that funnels them through the to Metro class at Melton.

I appreciate that the new board and David Martin took over at a difficult time and first priority had to be to plug the holes to stop the ship from sinking. But there comes a time where the ship must get back underway even if it is not entirely pristine and water tight yet, for it will take considerable time to build back up to full steam ahead.