Gatton set for maiden harness meeting

By Jordan Gerrans

History will be made on a couple of fronts when pacers hit the track on Sunday afternoon at Gatton.

It will be the first time a standardbred race meeting has been held at the Lockyer Valley Turf Club, which is usually used for gallops racing.

Strong fields are locked in for the maiden Gatton harness meeting with eight races set down for decision.

And, secondly, it will be a return of the Darling Downs Harness Racing Club who will host the meeting at Gatton on the grass.

The DDHRC are prominent on the show circuit across regional Queensland but have not run a registered race meeting for a little over five years.

Prominent broadcaster Anthony Collins was president of the DDHRC for a period of almost a decade and long pushed for a return for the entity.

Collins calls all three codes of racing on a regular basis.

The club formerly raced at Toowoomba’s Clifford Park before hosting one meeting annually at Warwick on Fathers’ Day.

Collins – who also prepares a small team of pacers – is proud to see his beloved DDHRC back up in lights this Sunday.

While Collins is no longer president of the club, he has remained heavily involved.

“The Darling Downs club has regrouped in recent times and the club has a long history,” Collins said.

“Despite adversity, the Darling Downs club has remained as a registered club across those many years.

“The club still exists and the membership base is growing.

“We have quite a strong committee there with a few notable breeders across the Darling Downs and quite a number of industry participants in the Lockyer Valley, as well.”

The Gatton meeting will be the return of the DDHRC which will lead into a race day back at the Warwick Turf Club in early November.

The club are hopeful of then running another meeting at Toowoomba’s Showgrounds following the Warwick race day.

Kilcoy will often host their own harness meetings on the grass, which are strongly supported by the local community.

DDHRC secretary Brendan Sippel is hopeful the people of the Lockyer Valley get on board with harness racing in their area.

"The core function of our club is to promote the sport to a wider audience," Sippel said.

"It's a family-based sport with generational participants and it's good fun. This is a first, we believe, for this region.

"Kilcoy has a few events a year, but most people in the Lockyer Valley haven't seen the trots on the grass.

“If you enjoyed the trots at the show, you're going to love this.”

The race meeting will have TAB status on Sunday and be headlined by the Gatton Grass Cup.

“We need a permanent home – which we haven’t had for quite a long time – and the Lockyer Valley could just be the place for it,” Collins said.

Warwick-based trainer and driver Dayl March will wear a couple of hats at the meeting on Sunday.

March is the vice-president of the DDHRC and will also have a couple of runners from his barn engaged.

“We are a club without a home and to be able to race and say we are still around is important,” March said.

“The committee members are working hard to see if the Lockyer Valley can be a venue for us going forward.

“It is very pleasing as a club to put something together.

“There have been some very hard workers on our committee and behind the scenes, without a few of them then we wouldn’t be running this meeting.”

The 54-year-old March said he was pleased to see the strength of the fields on Sunday and was glad to see a number of prominent trainers and drivers engaged at the meeting.

March has Perfect Feeling entered in the third race from Gatton on Sunday as well as stable mate Our Major Day in the Gatton Grass Cup.

Our Major Day was beaten by just over six metres at Albion Park on Tuesday and March thinks the gelding will be competitive over 1850 metres in the Cup.

“I have only just got Perfect Feeling back to my stable and he has not raced for about a month or so,” the Warwick-based trainer said.

“There will be some improvement in him, I would assume, and he is still reasonably fit.

“I have never had him on the grass so you are never sure how they will go, some like it and some do not.

“I think he will be thereabouts.

“Our Major Day’s run on Tuesday was really, really good. It is a strong race on Sunday and if Our Major Day puts in the performance he put in on Tuesday then he will be thereabouts.”