The Evolution Series is a new initiative from the Harness Racing NSW designed to give NSW Breeders Challenge eligible and sustained three-year-olds more opportunities to race against each other.

Races in the series are restricted to 3C0 and 3C1 graded horses who have not won more than $40,000 in their career.

Bathurst will host a heat this Wednesday as the penultimate race of the meeting.

The race is shaping up to be a two-horse battle between Chris Frisby’s Uncle Ryan and David Hewitt’s Madame Leza.

The pair will likely be fighting for favouritism in the lead up to the event – and their no strangers to racing against one another.

Frisby’s gelding has finished inside the top two across his last five starts while Madame Leza bested Uncle Ryan by just a head in her latest run at Menangle.

Heats in the Evolution Series are worth $10,000 and will lead to a $20,000 final to be held at Tabcorp Park Menangle.

The only months the Evolution Series will not be held are March, May, June and July due to the Bathurst Gold Crown Carnival and the NSW Breeders Challenge.

The series is a statewide initiative which involves tracks across the Metropolitan, Hunter/North West, South West Riverina and Western Districts areas.

Separate fillies series and colts and geldings series will start from January.