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Why was the annual Ashburton Boxing day meeting transferred to the previous Sunday. Ashburton have raced on this day for as long as I can remember and the Ashburton Cup was always a great race. Now it's hidden away on the Sunday before Xmas and it will from there be worth less and less each year and will be classified for a progressively lower class of horse. Consigned to history:rcf-sad-6:

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3 hours ago, Stables said:

Why was the annual Ashburton Boxing day meeting transferred to the previous Sunday. Ashburton have raced on this day for as long as I can remember and the Ashburton Cup was always a great race. Now it's hidden away on the Sunday before Xmas and it will from there be worth less and less each year and will be classified for a progressively lower class of horse. Consigned to history:rcf-sad-6:

I think Stratford Gallops have been moved from there traditional day as well. 

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4 hours ago, Stables said:

Why was the annual Ashburton Boxing day meeting transferred to the previous Sunday. Ashburton have raced on this day for as long as I can remember and the Ashburton Cup was always a great race. Now it's hidden away on the Sunday before Xmas and it will from there be worth less and less each year and will be classified for a progressively lower class of horse. Consigned to history:rcf-sad-6:

Sadly, there are only so many NZRB service trucks around the country and there were too many race meetings and not enough trucks. 

So, the worst performing meeting of the Boxing Day line up went - Ashburton. The meeting was actually shifted from the date last year as well and they raced on Christmas Eve. 

Shame, but the meeting was declining horribly and costing the club a lot of money with public holiday rates etc... 

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5 minutes ago, Taku Umanga said:

What I find disappointing is the decision to race at Cambridge Raceway tonight rather than the traditional grass track at Te Awamutu this time of year.  Damn sure they would've attracted a full race card at that venue.

IMO racing at Cambridge is very hohum.

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Maybe it's "hohum" but it's a case of that or nothing.     Harness club of late has had countless worries respect the grass track venues - like bias against harness by the thoroughbred code, increased costs, falling attendances both human and horse population, TAB/Racing board bias against allocation of suitable dates etc.    Sad to contemplate but the inevitable seems to be a total loss of those family picnic meetings which were once an integral part of the industry.    All the Northern grass track meetings have a sad story or two to tell, over the past few years,  Avondale, Parawai, Te Aroha, Te Awamutu, Rotorua, Tauranga and the virus appears to be migrating also to the Central Districts.     Is there an answer? - damned if I know!

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Even Pirongia in trouble

 

Lack of punters, red tape may strangle 152-year Pirongia Boxing Day races tradition

Mike Mather17:39, Dec 26 2018
 
The horses were apparently sticking to alphabetical order in this race - possibly one of the last in the history of the Pirongia Boxing Day Races.
TOM LEE/STUFF
The horses were apparently sticking to alphabetical order in this race - possibly one of the last in the history of the Pirongia Boxing Day Races.

There are bellows of delight and howls - some possibly faked - of anguish as the horses hoof it past the little grandstand at the Pirongia Racecourse, their human drivers in tow.

Happy punters mill about in the sunshine, race cards clutched tightly in hand. Children scamper by and scramble to get a view of the horses, many rejoicing in their first day at the races. More seasoned race-goers scan the field from behind their sunglasses and go back to scrutinising the line-up of the next event. 

Up in the stand watching the scene play out with a big grin on his face is Don "Bush" Macky, the president of the Alexandra Racing Club. Then the smile fades and his brow furrows as he contemplates the future of the annual Boxing Day event. Does it even have a future? He's far from certain.

Alexandra Racing Club president Don "Bush" Macky and the club committee are facing an uphill battle to keep the Boxing Day meeting a going concern. But it's a battle that is winnable, he reckons.
TOM LEE/STUFF
Alexandra Racing Club president Don "Bush" Macky and the club committee are facing an uphill battle to keep the Boxing Day meeting a going concern. But it's a battle that is winnable, he reckons.

It certainly has a past. One hundred and fifty-two years worth. That's 148 meetings over that time - the years when bad weather prevented any racing accounting for the disparity.

 

All that history, all those races won and lost, money made and gambled away, beer drunk and wine imbibed, could all be consigned to history.

It's health and safety rules and regulations that have figuratively ensnared the horses that compete in the Boxing Day races at Pirongia. A series of requirements deemed necessary by the New Zealand Thoroughbred Association that appears way too costly to fix.

Horse meets hose: Waingaro Mara enjoys a good watering down after his race at the Pirongia Racecourse.
TOM LEE/STUFF
Horse meets hose: Waingaro Mara enjoys a good watering down after his race at the Pirongia Racecourse.

The main issue is keeping the punters away from the horses, lest some misfortune afflict either party. Railings and barriers are required.

Then there is a 30-metre stretch of the track that is at slightly the wrong camber. It will need earthworks to fix it. Lastly the whole track needs to be sprayed and completely replanted. And irrigated.

"It's going to be a massive effort and we don't ultimately know if it is going to be worth it," Macky sighs. "It's a lot of trouble for a once-a-year picnic day meeting on Boxing Day."

In the heyday of the Pirongia races in the early 1990s about 10,000 people attended the Boxing Day meeting. This year about 2000 people were estimated to be attending.
TOM LEE/STUFF
In the heyday of the Pirongia races in the early 1990s about 10,000 people attended the Boxing Day meeting. This year about 2000 people were estimated to be attending.

It isn't the only problem. The amount of people attending the event is slowly dwindling. Macky points to a photo on the wall of the clubroom, an aerial shot of the 1992 Boxing Day meeting, a 10,000-strong crowd thronging trackside, a sea of cars parked beyond.

This year, in spite of the agreeable weather, it will be lucky if more than 2000 punters make it through the gate.

"It's the Boxing Day sales that have sucked the people away from events like this. It's how things are these days. Aspirations change and society moves on and evolves. It's a pity, but there it is.

"It's going to be a massive effort ... It's a lot of trouble for a once-a-year picnic day meeting on Boxing Day."
TOM LEE/STUFF
"It's going to be a massive effort ... It's a lot of trouble for a once-a-year picnic day meeting on Boxing Day."

"At 2000 punters we can almost break even. If we could get 3000 to 4000 in we could cover the cost of running the day. Maybe turn a small profit."

Another factor is that those involved in organising the annual meet keep getting older and are not being replaced by younger members.

"I'm the president. I'm 74. The secretary is 80. We are really struggling to get younger people involved."

Macky's lament is interrupted by another race - one of the "kids' kart" events - and his big grin immediately returns.

"Would you look at the size of number one," he guffaws as the miniature ponies trot by. "It's not much bigger than a great dane."

Back to more pressing concerns: The club committee will meet in February to decide whether to get stuck in with the track improvements or call it a day.

"I'm in the keep it going camp. My glass is half full," Macky says. "It's a great day with a great history to it and it would be a great shame if this was the last one."

The first Boxing Day race meeting in Pirongia was held in 1866. Organised by one of the town's publicans, the jockeys were mainly soldiers from the British militia, with a few pioneer farmers making up the field, The races were run up and down the town's main street.

The Alexandra Racing Club is named after the moniker Pirongia was briefly known by, before it was changed to avoid confusion with the South Island town.

"Back in the day the rail used to be teatree poles and twine," Macky says wistfully. "It was pretty huckory but it worked OK. We couldn't get away with that sort of thing in this day and age."

It's been lean times for the club in recent years. Last year's meeting was abandoned due to rain. The year before a horse slipped and fell on the stretch of track with bad camber. And the same thing happened in the same spot the previous year - hence the scrutiny from the thoroughbred association.

"We only have seven races this year. Eight if you count the human horses race. We really need nine races if we are to make a proper day of it. It would be great to have the gallops again. For now, all we can do is the harness racing.

"It's getting pretty bloody tough to keep it going. The regulars, the people that live here all want to see it survive. But the devil's in the detail.

"We will just have to wait and see how it all turns out." 

 

 

 

Stuff

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