Week 3 and Blue September’s taking it up a notch

[Wandering Eyes]

Harness Racing New Zealand’s 2025 Blue September campaign is gearing up for its busiest week so far.

The first Big Blue Drive (BBD) will take place all over the country from Thursday through to Sunday. It is all about encouraging people to donate to the cause and raise as much money as possible for prostate cancer research.

Thursday will see dual meetings at Winton and Cambridge, with the latter hosting “Blokes’ Night”. Tickets are $70 and include food from the Burger Bistro menu, a drink on arrival and a variety of on-course activities.

To see more click here 

On Friday there’s racing at Addington and Auckland including the $110,000 Group 1 Caduceus Class 2YO Fillies Classic at Alexandra Park. 

Racegoers embracing the Blue theme at both venues will be in the running to get spot prizes while stables who get involved will go into the draw to win a morning tea shout courtesy of HRNZ. All they need to do is email their photos to kim.butt@hrnz.co.nz.

On Saturday everyone who has donated to the cause so far this month will get the opportunity to win prizes. All they have to do is comment on a HRNZ Facebook post to automatically go into the draw.

The prizes are :

1. Two tickets to Harness 5000 meeting thanks to Ashburton Raceway. Each prize will entitle both people to a meal and drinks for the day. They will be seated  with the sponsors for the day and have a view of the finishing post.

2. Two tickets to The Infield on Cup Day 

3. A WDC (World Driving Championship) Merchandise Pack 

4. A special hamper full of goodies 

The weekend will finish up with a big day at Motukarara on Sunday. The annual Blue Bolt is always a highlight. It pits all 11 ambassadors against each other in a 100 metre sprint down the home straight. On what is a very family-friendly day at Banks Peninsula, there will also be two Blue September Invited Drivers races. 

At the halfway mark, the campaign is at $18,141.

The annual fund-raiser for the New Zealand Prostate Cancer Foundation has had a strong start, with $12,000 raised during the first week, followed by another $6000 last week. 

In all there have been 25 wins by Blue September ambassadors so far. Money is raised every time one of them wins a race thanks to their individual sponsors and contributions from HRNZ and the clubs.

Josh Dickie, Tony Cameron, Robbie Close and Sam Thornley all picked up their first wins for the campaign over the last few days, with Close’s coming in Friday’s feature at Addington, the Listed $50,000 Woodlands Stud Series Stakes Harness 7000.

The country’s leading driver Blair Orange has the most individual wins, with seven, followed by John Dunn and Matthew Williamson on five.

To see more about the Blue September campaign click here 

Or contact :  courtney@hrnz.co.nz 

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