MEDIA RELEASE : 18 November 2004

NSWROA Welcomes Stayers Series

NSWROA President Rob Albon said today that the introduction of the Provincial Stayers Championship Series is both a positive response to race programming  in NSW and a powerful indication that Racing NSW is addressing the needs of owners.

"This is a very important initiative", he said, "and Racing NSW and the Provincial race clubs have the full support of the NSWROA. The Association has advocated the need for more staying races and support for owners who breed from staying blood, or who turn out to have a horse that displays its best form over a distance, in its submissions to Racing NSW on programming and the Strategic Plan"

Albon said that there should be a balance between sprints, middle distance events and staying races, which, in his opinion had been lost over that past twenty years.

"The NSWROA has been vocal in its opposition to the downgrading of The Metropolitan, as indicative of a distortion in the pattern of racing ", he said; "this should be reversed and the Provincial Stayers Championship Series should play an important role in bolstering the ranks of stayers in NSW."

"The statement by Racing NSW CEO Peter V'Landys that a policy of increasing opportunities for stayers may mean having to bear with small fields at the outset is a sensible and pragmatic approach to the achievement of any long-term goal", Albon said.

Contact: Rob Albon
Tel: 0404 881 857

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