Ascot Stand starts to come down
The old Ascot Stand at Awapuni Racecourse is being pulled down.
The former stand and administration building hasn’t been used for years, and is finally being deconstructed as part of the master plan for the development of the Palmerston North racecourse.
RACE chief executive Alasdair Robertson said work had started to strip everything from the stand.
‘‘It’s been taken apart and recycled, it’s not being demolished,’’ he said. ‘‘All the native timbers are being saved.
‘‘It will take a couple of weeks stripping out the inside, leaving a shell, and in January, after Marton Cup, it will come down.’’
Ramze Demolition and Salvage is stripping out the stand.
The exact age of the Ascot Stand is unclear, but it is at least 68 years old.
The Manawatu¯ Racing Club, which formed in 1880, reported using a new public stand in 1923 and using another new stand in 1932, and one of those could be the Ascot Stand.
The birdcage used to be in front of the Ascot Stand and stables were behind it. Now stables are at the southern end of the racecourse and the birdcage is in front of the members’ stand.
The old Ledger Stand, which is now only used as a tractor shed, will eventually go too, opening up a view of the Tararua Range.
A new tractor shed will be built. Robertson said the master plan would be finished in about two years. One of the big additions will be a synthetic track built inside the existing track.
‘‘We’re targeting 400-plus horses a week here to make it one of the major training centres in New Zealand.’’
RACE would build three or four new barns, Robertson said, and there will be a new fence built to beautify the entrance.