The club is one of the few country trots clubs which has some sort of parity in its prizemoney for its pacers and trotters cups.
Last Sunday’s Cobram Trotters Cup prizemoney was $30,000 which was an increase of $5000 from last year while the Cobram Pacers Cup was worth $35,000 for the fourth successive year.
For some reason I can't fathom clubs have shied away from equalling or even narrowing purses between pacers and trotters in feature events.
Whether it’s a trotter or a pacer they cost the same to feed and may be even more challenging to train at times although this is not the problem it once was because of the availability these days of world-class top trotting sires to breeders.
Mega owner and breeder Duncan McPherson, principal of Aldebaran Park, has been a champion at promoting the straightout trotter over the years.
He said nearly 10 years ago the trotter could one day challenge pacers in popularity for standardbred breeders.
A lot scoffed at the time at his prediction but you only have to look at fields these days and quite often there could be as many or nearly as many races for trotters as pacers at some meetings.
Cobram Harness Racing Club president Charlie Ewart and his committee have certainly got ‘‘with it’’ in regards to upgrading the worth of trotters in the industry and it would be great to see other clubs follow their lead.
Well done Cobram Harness Racing Club.