Minister congratulates RWWA on country harness stake strategy

Racing and Gaming Minister Terry Waldron has welcomed today's announcement by Racing and Wagering Western Australia (RWWA) to extend country harness stake money to sixth placegetters and increase stakes per race for the 2009-10 racing year.

"RWWA has done a fantastic job of managing the additional pooling costs forced upon it by the change to its pooling arrangement with Tabcorp," Mr Waldron said.

"To absorb additional costs of up to $21million per year without reducing stake money levels is a remarkable result."

The Minister said the good work done by RWWA to maintain stakemoney levels was well recognised by country clubs and the latest decision would allay concerns over the suspension of the Owners' Incentive Payments (OIP) Scheme.

"In my discussions with these clubs they have expressed concern that the loss of the Owners' Incentive Payments may impact on nominations for the coming season," he said.

"I passed these concerns onto RWWA and I am very pleased at today's announcement.

Mr Waldron said splitting the stakes down to sixth place would provide greater opportunities for trainers and owners to receive a return and the additional funding per race would add further incentive.

"This was a well considered response by RWWA as governing body and demonstrates the robustness and effectiveness of the consultative process it recently conducted on the issue," he said.

"I think it is worth noting that this positive outcome has occurred despite the misinformation that has continued to be spread by the Opposition spokesman."

The Minister said the decision to suspend the OIP scheme was the right one, not only because of the additional costs that needed to be absorbed, but also because the nature of the scheme left it open to exploitation.

RWWA has committed to introducing a replacement scheme in 2010-11 to better meet the need for a travel subsidy to support outlying clubs that rely on trainers to travel with their teams.