Ohokaman 5,825 Report post Posted April 11, 2019 News tonight reports that 7 tracks are to be closed : Dargaville, Thames, Stratford, Hokitika, Waimate, Winton and Wyndham. 3 have been reprieved : Wairoa, Blenheim and Reefton. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiknsmack 486 Report post Posted April 11, 2019 Hokitika makes sense; it's a poor track where there is already a surplus of tracks. Dargaville makes sense, you can go all-in on Ruakaka. Stratford has some close neighbours too, so if the locals are happy to close it to focus on the others, that's cool. If Thames can sell up and buy into the new Waikato Greenfields setup (a "RACE Inc." of the north to hold 40+ meetings a year hosted by half a dozen different member clubs), instead of having to give the cash to NZTR to fund a million dollar Derby or two, then that's fine. Waimate, Winton and Wyndham are all dual-code. So NZTR no longer programming races there doesn't mean NZTR can force the harness clubs to sell and give the money to NZTR, which was Messara's plan. It does mean that locals might swap involvement in the thoroughbred code for involvement in the standardbred one, so HRNZ will be happy. We're Doomed and dock leaf 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Rum 1,833 Report post Posted April 11, 2019 Never been to the track at Waimate but my understanding is the stand blew down .Then with a big member and community effort they have put the place back together quite well , taking debris from stand away and making the place quite pleasant.Although iam not a harness follower I hope they keep racing there at least under that code after all that work. Fartoomuch and We're Doomed 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
We're Doomed 4,855 Report post Posted April 11, 2019 35 minutes ago, Red Rum said: Never been to the track at Waimate but my understanding is the stand blew down .Then with a big member and community effort they have put the place back together quite well , taking debris from stand away and making the place quite pleasant.Although iam not a harness follower I hope they keep racing there at least under that code after all that work. Yes they did make a lot of effort to get it back up and running. Very good winter track as well. Hard to see any real benefit to racing moving away and leaving it to harness. If I was running harness racing I would give the Waimate trots another day and presumably they would pick up the unwanted sponsorship and community input. The gallops used to have two meetings back in the day; one for the racing club and one for the hunt club. Fartoomuch 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam Robson 1,547 Report post Posted April 11, 2019 Very entertaining, too , was the hunt day...esp, the amateur riders' steeplechase.....! I am surprised that Oamaru is the track of choice for the club, however - Timaru would seem more logical given that it is in Canterbury, not Otago. I'm sorry for the locals but I don't think many stakeholders will miss the cold trek down the line in winter. chelseacol 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
We're Doomed 4,855 Report post Posted April 12, 2019 10 hours ago, Pam Robson said: Very entertaining, too , was the hunt day...esp, the amateur riders' steeplechase.....! I am surprised that Oamaru is the track of choice for the club, however - Timaru would seem more logical given that it is in Canterbury, not Otago. I'm sorry for the locals but I don't think many stakeholders will miss the cold trek down the line in winter. The Racing Club did used to race in January, when it wasn't quite so cold, until they were forced to merge with the Hunt Club and race in the middle of winter. I can recall being there when I think Caparo won the Cup in the early 80s. The hometown of Rex Cochrane of course who used to win many races at Waimate. The distance from Waimate to Oamaru and Timaru is pretty similar, although since the Oamaru racecourse is on the north side of the town and Timaru's racecourse is also on the north side the Oamaru racecourse is probably a few minutes closer to Waimate. I think the trots may also have raced at Oamaru when the course wasn't available. So if they race at Oamaru in future Canterbury trainers will have even further to travel. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leggy 4,076 Report post Posted April 12, 2019 11 hours ago, Pam Robson said: Very entertaining, too , was the hunt day...esp, the amateur riders' steeplechase.....! Oh crap. Don't remind me. I think I rode in that one day .... at least for the first round, or maybe that was the point to point meeting there? Pam Robson 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...