Sport
3 September, 2024
Revamped Redwood begins countdown for 2024
The Maryborough Harness Racing Club (MHRC) are counting down to the Redwood Carnival in two months time with a revamped schedule which includes the reclaiming of Group 1 status for the Redwood Classic.
To do that, the club has decided to amalgamate the September pacing cup to allow prizemoney to be repurposed to the Classic.
The Redwood Classic will now feature a $75,000 prize pool, helping it become a Group 1 race again, alongside the Group 1 Haras des Trotteurs Victoria Trotters Derby, as well as the Group 3 Maryborough Trotters Cup, which will be held on Redwood day on Sunday, October 27.
It means the carnival will now feature over $250,000 of prize money, which will be a draw to the best trotters in Australia.
In a press release on thetrots.com.au, MHRC general manager Jackson Barby spoke about the shift in philosophy to enhance the status of the Redwood Carnival.
“The foundations of Redwood is built on it being an all-trotting carnival, an event with a great tradition, and if we want to grow that we need to be proactive and innovative,” he said.
“We always had in mind bringing the trotters cup to Redwood, and a goal was to get the Redwood Classic back to Group 1 status.
“Increasing stakes is difficult in this climate, but we were able to do that by reallocating prizemoney from our pacing cup to the Redwood Classic.
“It’s not a decision we made lightly, but working with our major supporter Aldebaran Park, a great promoter of the trotting gait, we want Redwood to be the biggest regional trotting carnival in Australia and an international draw.”
The Redwood Carnival will start on Sunday, October 20 with the Victoria Derby heats, before returning on Friday, October 25 with the Redwood Remembrance Race Day, followed by the Redwood Dinner Dance the following evening, with the showcase event the next day.
A new feature of the Redwood weekend will also come off the track, with the MHRC improving facilities around the track.
Onlookers who have already been able to see the new facilities have been impressed, according to Barby.
“We needed to modernise our facilities, and it has come up really well — we’re proud of it,” he said.
“We’re excited to showcase it on Redwood weekend, and it’s also helped us to increase our capacity to hand out offerings, with the Terrace package available, our dining room is going to be booked out, I would say.
“Our dinner dance on the Saturday night will add that next level of class to the event.”
Barby says onlookers will be in for a nice surprise this year.
“With the upgrades and what we’ve done, it makes the whole experience of being out here on the day, with the new equipment we have in the kitchen, a lot more efficient service and with some better-quality food, which will improve the overall experience of anyone out here over the Redwood weekend,” he said.
“Hopefully people who come here for Redwood weekend get a nice shock when they see how much progress we have made, especially in the function room.
“We have already seen the benefits of that with increased enquiries and bookings for functions just from the few sneak peeks we have shown to people. The feedback that we have had already has been really positive.”