Harness Racing Victoria’s Industry Roadshow Series rolled in Charlton on Tuesday evening, and despite wild weather and a busy local calendar, more than 50 participants showed up.
The September Roadshows are designed to give participants and the broader pride community the opportunity to go directly with HRV leadership, to assess the financial year 2025 and hear about prediction plans for 2026 and then.
The sessions are established by HRV chairman Bernard Saundry, CEO Matt Isaacs and members of the HRV board, with open discussion about important industrial issues such as Finance, the Melton Land negotiations, the National Ratings System and the future of the stallions.
Charlton Harness Racing Club president Andrea O’Gorman said that the support of both community and harness racing attendees were a welcome boost of the club’s efforts to strengthen the continuous importance of Charlton for the broader industry and the local community.
“We were very happy that 55 people are present,” said O’Gorman.
“It has shown what we have emphasized on HRV – that we have enormous support as an organization in our local community, which was great,” she said.
“Given the two funerals (for prominent armor races in the local surroundings) there were three other meetings in the city that evening and the Charlton Theater was open, we were very happy.”
HRV leadership also visited the Charlton Harness Racing Training Center-a community-driven initiative that offers a cheap training basis for professional trainers.
The center enables emerging young trainers to settle in the industry without the priceless costs for setting up stand-alone facilities and is currently the home of three active stables run by young trainers: ZAC Steenhuis and Brittany O’Brien; Michael Gadsden and Emily Wombwell; And Tori Hutchins and Luke Dunne.
The upcoming strategic plan of HRV (2026–28), which will be released in the coming weeks, is expected to emphasize the training center model as an important opportunity to strengthen the basis of industry in the future.
“The tours through the training center were an eye-opener for them, I think,” said O’Gorman.
“All in all, we feel that we had a productive private meeting and ingrained in (HRV Leadership) a good understanding of the importance of the training center for our future.”
The Charlton session followed on Monday Kilmore Forum, which attracted around 20 personal attendees, but a much larger online audience of 150 through Proudvision.
There, HRV director Matt Isaacs gave careful optimism about the future of the code, pointing to the Melton Land negotiations as crucial for rebuilding the financial basis of the industry.
The Charlton Forum last night reinforced the importance of grassroots voices when shaping what is coming for the sport.
The series now goes to his last stop at Terang Tonight (Wednesday 17 September from 7 pm).
From Terry Gange for Harnesslink
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