The Devonport Cup will be run a week later next year in the only major change to the thoroughbred calendar for the 2022-23 season.
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Harness racing will get an extra three race dates to reduce the number of single-meeting weekends.
And, greyhound meetings that would have been held at the now defunct Devonport track will continue to be shared between Launceston and Hobart but Hobart will inherit all the feature races worth more than $5000.
The Devonport Cup, held on January 5 this year, has been moved to January 11 - a change the Devonport Racing Club would like made permanent.
Until now, the feature race has fluctuated between the first and second week in January depending on the calendar.
However the DRC has always believed the first week in January was too close to the Christmas and New Year holidays.
DRC chairman Barry Milton would like to see the cup and its public service half-day holiday locked into the second week.
"This year's cup was only two days after the New Year's Day public holiday which made it difficult to plan for the race meeting," he said.
"It creates issues for us such as trying to get portaloos, generators and things like that, which we need, out of other events."
The 70 thoroughbred meetings for the season will include seven on King Island in a return to pre-COVID numbers.
There will again be two Friday night meetings in Launceston in October and January.
The October 21 meeting corresponds with Manikato Stakes night at Moonee Valley and has produced significantly increased wagering turnover in the past two years.
The Tasmanian Turf Club will have 25 meetings (18 at night), the Tasmanian Racing Club 21, an increase of one and mainly on Sunday afternoon, and the Devonport Racing Club 17.
The Tasmanian Derby/Hobart Cup meetings will again be held over the Regatta Day long weekend which means there will again be a 10-day gap between the Hobart and Launceston Cups.
EXTRA SATURDAY NIGHT FOR HARNESS
In addition to three extra dates, the harness code will get an additional Saturday night Sky 1 meeting taking the total to five.
The first Saturday night program on September 3 will feature the 3YO Spring Championship but in future years it will become the Tasmanian Derby/Oaks meeting.
The other features to be run on Saturday night will be the the Tassie Golden Apple on December 3, Devonport Cup on January 14, Tasmania Cup on March 18 and Easter Cup on April 8.
The 13 harness meetings that would have been held at the Devonport Showgrounds will mostly remain in the north and north-west, with eight in Launceston and three in Burnie.
However two will be moved to Hobart.
Burnie will now have eight meetings for the season while Carrick will go from three to four.
NAME CHANGE FOR DEVONPORT CHASE
One of Tasmania's premier greyhound races will temporarily be renamed while it is being held in Hobart.
The group 3 Devonport Chase will be known simply as The Chase until it is relocated back to the North West Coast when the region gets its new track.
The race was called the Devonport Cup until 2019 when it got a name change and was moved from its traditional January timeslot.
This year it will have heats in Hobart on November 17 and a final on November 24, both at Thursday night rather than Tuesday afternoon meetings.
Tasracing says the new programming is aimed at providing a good lead-up to the group 1 Hobart Thousand on December 15.
The Launceston Cup will be on Saturday February 4.
RAND OUT TO DEFY WEIGHT OF NUMBERS
Spreyton harness trainer Leigh Rand will take three good chances to Mowbray on Friday night for a meeting that, numbers-wise, is totally dominated by Ben Yole.
The Rand-trained Aussie Rock looks an each-way prospect in the Trainers Encouragement Pace after having no luck at her last start in a similar race.
Stablemate Laurens Runner is drawn the pole in 6TY Pace and should go close if she can hold a forward position while Pardoe Plugga looks well placed with a novice driver claim in the Elderslie Horse Care Pace.
Apart from one race where he is ineligible to compete, Yole has 59 of the 72 acceptors for the meeting.