The Harden Picnic Race Club will celebrate its 40th running in 2022 after COVID caused the club to undertake a two year hiatus.
The club has seen considerable construction work undertaken over the past two years, including the brand new multi purpose facility, which will be utilised by all of the user groups who are based at the racecourse.
Success with recent grant funding will see new purpose built state of the art jockey rooms commence construction after the October 23rd Meeting.
The tight-knit committee has been busy ensuring the amenities and landscaping is second to none.
Long term President of the club Nathan Schofield is looking forward to being back at the races, he has been at the helm of the club for more than four years and is hopeful that the club will see a second race meeting added to the calendar, on top of the already successful October meeting, which is known both locally and regionally as being the highlight of the twin towns social calendar of the year.
Nathan said, “We will have these picnics and then I’ll speak again to Racing NSW about the possibility of a second event being a half tab event which would mean more prize money. It is probably a long way off yet, but you have to start somewhere”
“It is our end goal to have a seperate races in the middle of the year before the picnics but for now we will just focus on getting the picnics done first.”
Nathan is also part owner of star Mare ‘Ten Bells’.
The Mare has an incredible strike rate winning four of her six races collecting a rich purse of $131,050.
When asked about the 4 year old Mare Nathan said, “She injured her hamstring jumping out of the gates prepping for a run at Canberra, she’s been rehabbing it over the past 12 weeks, she’s back in work now and I’d say her next start will come around the start of August.”
The four year old is trained by highly rated Goulburn trainer Scott Collings.
Collings has accumulated over a million dollars in winnings over his 10 year training career.
He has the resume of training star horses such as ‘London Gal’, ‘Bombdiggity’, ‘Newtown is Coming’ and of course, Ten Bells.
Ten Bells has had the luxury of being ridden by one of the world’s best jockeys in Jason Collet.
Jason is a part of a prestigious racing family with his parents Richard and Judy Collet both being quality jockeys and his younger sister Alyssa Collet quickly rising through the ranks of Australian Jockeys.
Their cousin Samantha is also a highly regarded hoop.
Jason was aboard the star Mare when she claimed a victory at Randwick back in October, which was the pair’s second win at Randwick after taking the money in August 2021.
If you’d like to hire the main function centre at the racecourse contact Nathan Schofield, Zak Leitner or Paul O’Connor.
Tully Potts
