The Metropolitan area has the horse population in Sep-Dec (when there are limited 2yo's & 3yo's in the pool) to conduct in most instances two weekday meetings and a Metro Saturday night.
The meetings at Penrith have predominately been programmed as Secondary meetings during Sep-Oct to cater for out of form and/or emerging horses.
To ensure that new 3yo's and C0's that are not up to Menangle Tuesday are catered for races have been programmed for $6,000 per race during this period.
If you look at the three meetings programmed this week it's fair to say that trainers have placed their horses based on their current form and/or ability.
Menangle (Tues):
http://www.harness.org.au/fields.cfm?mc=PC020914
Penrith:
http://www.harness.org.au/fields.cfm?mc=PE040914
Menangle (Sat):
http://www.harness.org.au/fields.cfm?mc=PC060914
When the horse population grows & the Metro Monday meeting enters the system Penrith meetings will mainly be Primary Meetings (programmed similar to how Newcastle & Wagga/Young Fridays and Bathurst are programmed now).
Primary meetings have increased from $39,000 to $46,000 per meeting.
Secondary meetings have increased from $28,000 to $33,500 per meeting.
The race date calendar is designed to cater for the horse population at any given time of the year.
I think the mix in the Metro area has worked extremely well this week.