Wanted man
‘‘The Boxing Day races are our biggest revenue day of the year, and it doesn’t stop having an impact there – there’s a lot of extra work going into [the track] and then there’s the cost of [race] transfers,’’ Robertson said.
The Race Group was extremely disappointed in the RIU’S decision, and believed work on the corner could have been done without shutting the track, he said.
Robertson said the corner had already been identified as a problem and work on a secondary inside corner had been underway since April or May last year.
‘‘We had 2900 horses around that track over the last two years [before that] and not one slipped.
‘‘The incident on December 17 was an isolated case and happened on a completely different part of the track from where the issues were.’’
RIU general manager Mike Godber said the racecourse had proposed keeping the track open and temporarily patching the old bend until the secondary corner was ready.
But the RIU did not think it was a workable option, he said.
‘‘It just wasn’t ready and the riders agreed with us on this. The old bend wasn’t up to spec and we couldn’t risk running horses through it.’’
Race Group tracks and grounds manager Kim Treweek said work was going well at the racecourse and they were on track to be ready for the next race meeting on March 3. Treweek said a ‘‘jump out’’ practice trial was held to test the new inside corner and a larger second test run was planned for next week.
‘‘We ran roughly 20 horses around the track last week and everyone was happy with the progress so far.
‘‘[But] obviously we need to race on that corner before the Gold Cup, to make sure there’s no problem for the big event.’’
Assuming everything went well with the second trial, a seven-race meeting would go ahead on March 3, before the Gold Cup Racing Festival.
Neither the Palmerston North City Council nor the Central Economic Development Agency have assessed the impact those races have had on the city’s economy in the past.
But Accommodation Gateway motel owner Marian Mcmurray said she and the other Pioneer Highway moteliers had noticed the races’ absence.
‘‘It’s had a big impact on us and I’m sure that filtered out to the rest of the city.’’
Mcmurray said the loss of the Boxing Day races had hit them the hardest.
Not only was it the biggest of the three relocated races, its cancellation was announced only five days beforehand.
That left a lot of empty rooms after race fans axed their motel bookings, she said.
‘‘You practically never fill them after a cancellation, especially not at that time of year.’’
Mcmurray said she was pleased to hear the racing was likely to resume at Awapuni next March. REGION: A conman who charmed his way into elderly women’s homes is still on the run and his victims are desperate for him to be caught before he strikes again.