BALLARAT and District Trotting Club will have a million dollar raceday in August next year.

Ballarat will host the 2006 Australasian Breeders' Crown finals - the richest day on the Australia-New Zealand harness racing calendar.

The Australasian Breed-ers' Crown Carnival is fast challenging the time-honoured Inter-Dominion Championships as the sport's premier event.

Six classics for two and three-year-old pacers and trotters will be run at Bray Raceway on Sunday, August 20, on a 10-race card exclusively comprising Breeders' Crown events.

Harness Racing Victoria chief executive officer John Anderson, in announcing that Ballarat's bid had been successful, said the Breeders' Crown had grown enormously in stature in a short period to be one of the industry's most important flagship events.

The first seven series were run at Bendigo before being switched to Cranbourne this year.

"I am confident Ballarat will maintain the proud reputation (of the Breeders' Crown)," Mr Anderson said.

"Bray Raceway is without doubt one of the state's premier harness racing venues," he said.

"The club has also proven its ability to be innovative and I am looking forward to seeing it make a fabulous success of the Breeders' Crown," Mr Anderson said.

BDTC president Mr Paul James said securing the classic was not only a coup for the Ballarat harness racing fraternity, but the whole community.

"This will be an event the everyone can embrace for the betterment of the region," he said.

"This is a win for Ballarat business and tourism.

"It is will be important that all facets of the community rally behind the event." Mr James said.

He said the BDTC prided itself in being number one in the Victorian harness racing and this was another opportunity to show this.

Breeders' Crown day offered more than $960,000 in stakes at Cranbourne this year, with the two-year-old pacing finals for fillies, and colts and geldings each offering $214,000. This represented an overall increase of $100,000-plus on the previous year.

With stakes rising each year, the HRV will almost certainly lift the prizemoney on offer next year past $1 million.

The Breeders' Crown carnival will be also feature a meeting earlier in the same week for semi-finals.

With the addition of this event, 2006 will be the biggest year in Ballarat harness racing history with the group one Cadbury Ballarat Pacing Cup on January 28 worth a record $125,000. The cup meeting will also feature heats of the Victoria Derby and in a first heats of the Inter-Dominion Trotting Championship.