And, the organisation representing the state’s thoroughbred breeders is frustrated, claiming that Tasracing has not given its members a reason for the refusal.

The breeders wanted the meeting moved from an afternoon to a night timeslot on Sunday February 24.

This would free up the afternoon for yearling parades and inspections leading up to the following day’s sale.

“We thought it made commonsense,” said former Tasbreeders committeeman and leading breeder Graeme McCulloch.

“The morning of the sale is very rushed so we try to get people to look at the yearlings the day before and this would give them more time to do so.

“If we’ve only got the Sunday morning to show the yearlings, bigger vendors like Armidale and myself just can’t spend the time with clients that we need to.”

McCulloch said the proposed move had the support of the Tasmanian Turf Club but Tasracing had refused to come on board.

“We’ve put it to (acting CEO) Alicia Fuller two or three times, at meetings and over the phone, but she has refused to budge,” he said.

“She said that Tasracing had made its decision and didn’t need to give a reason.

“I think she didn’t want to upset Sky Channel but harness racing had agreed to takeover the afternoon timeslot.

“There is a Devonport pacing meeting that night and it would have been a straight swap.”

The time factor hasn’t been a problem in previous years when the yearling sale has been on a Thursday because the previous day’s race meeting was at night.

But the sale is now on the Monday starting at 1pm.

Harness racing participants will get the chance to air any concerns with Tasracing at an industry meeting on December 11.

Organised by the Carrick Park Pacing Club, the meeting will be attended by Tasracing acting CEO Alicia Fuller and strategic development manager Liam Swan.

CPPC chairman Leigh Dornauf said it would be the first time for several years that a Tasracing CEO had addressed an open industry meeting.

Items listed for discussion include programming and race dates, a drop in the number of races, an increase in the number of ballots, the downturn in revenue resulting from Sky 2 Friday race meetings, lack of opportunities for Tasbred horses and the future of trotting races.

Dornauf confirmed that the CPPC had requested that no trotting races be programmed at the Carrick track this season.

The industry meeting will be in the CPPC bar starting at 7pm.