Fantasy Harness Racing is coming to WA in 2025, and Racing WA’s Head of Harness Cameron Brown is excited to see the concept come alive here in the West.
With its inception in 2022 in NSW, they will be going nationwide for 2025, with January 1 kicking off the start of the season, which will see the introduction of five new states in the Fantasy Game.
“Racing WA are super excited to have WA involved in the Harness Fantasy Game in 2025.
“Fantasy Sports have been a huge success across the world in attracting and engaging new fans and we hope the national game can lift the profile of harness racing nationwide.”
WA has 20 drivers up for selection with the fantasy harness racing game running exclusively at Gloucester Park on Friday nights for 25 consecutive rounds.
January 3 marks the start of Fantasy Harness Racing here in WA.
LIST OF WA DRIVERS:
Gary Hall Jnr Deni Roberts Shannon Suvaljko
Aiden De Campo Chris Voak Chris Lewis
Maddison Brown Stuart McDonald Kyle Symington
Kyle Harper Emily Suvaljko Dylan Egerton-Green
Mitchell Miller Jocelyn Young Trent Wheeler
Ryan Warwick Lindsay Harper Donald Harper
Aldo Cortopassi Nathan Turvey
Group 1 races will count for triple-points, including big points up for offer in The Nullarbor at Gloucester Park in April 2025.
How does it work?
In a nutshell, the season kicks off from January 1 and will run for 25 rounds, with each round starting from Thursday and will end on either Saturday or Sunday depending on Tasmania’s racing schedule for that time.
Players will select a squad of 22 drivers from the four regions; four from Queensland, four from New South Wales, four Victoria and six from WASAT (made up of drivers from Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania) and a reserve for each region as well.
Each driver has a salary cap, and a variable pricing model will apply. This means each driver has been given a price tag to start the season and their price will fluctuate up and down each round depending on how they score.
Each week or round will consist of 12 race meetings, and each round will see three race meetings in each region, with WASAT made up of a Friday night Gloucester Park meeting, one South Australia meeting and one meeting from Tasmania.
Players will be selecting a captain each week who will have their score doubled for that round. There are no restrictions for captains, meaning they can be selected from anywhere around Australia.
You will be given two trades each week and will have the opportunity to make changed to your driving squad in this time, but you will need to make sure you are spending within the money available in the salary cap.
Fantasy Leagues will be in play, meaning you can build a league and play against family and friends, with head-to-head battles earning you your bragging rights as you head towards the Grand Final in July.
The season will end on July 19, 2025
Season 3 Registrations for Fantasy Harness Racing will open in early December. Pre-registration is available, and you will be alerted when the sign-up opens.
Registrations are free and it is an all-ages opportunity.
“it’s a great family engagement tool, with mum against dad, mum against the kids, that’s what is cool about it, you can have leagues with head-to-head battles.” Paul Cochrane (HRNSW)
Harness Racing Fantasy (fantasyharnessracing.com)
Ashleigh Paikos
Image: Pacepix