Matter of centimetres costly for Waimate clubs

RACING is a game of centimetres — the Waimate racing clubs know that all too well.

While it is usually the centimetres or millimetres on the track that separate first and second that can decide whether thousands of dollars are won or lost, it is the centimetres off the track which have cost the Waimate harness and thoroughbred clubs this time.

The Waimate Racing Club, along with the Waimate Trotting Club, has been through the most trying of times since the Waimate racecourse facilities were left devastated by a storm in September of 2013.

The trust which owns and manages the racecourse settled with insurers and set about the task of rebuilding the administration facilities, a job which was eventually finished earlier this year.

What stopped the racing club holding its June meeting on its home track was a matter of centimetres.

A final inspection by New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing found two windows fitted in the new commentator’s tower were not big enough, according to President Mike Cooney.

‘‘For some reason or other, the photo finish window went in as a fixed window and it wasn’t as big as it should have been in the plan.’’

The commentator’s window did not pass inspection from the Canterbury commentator either, Cooney said.

The window issues meant that the club’s June meeting could not be held at the Waimate track and it was run at Oamaru instead.

The window issue was put down to miscommunication, Cooney said.

‘‘There was just some wrong information got passed to the builder at a critical time.’’

The club also has one more task to complete before racing can recommence — the winning post and starting points will need resurveyed.

Other than the window and winning post improvements, the club got a good report from NZTR.

‘‘We galloped horses there. [Leading jockey] Terry Moseley and a few others were there and they were very happy with the track.’’

The setback from having to again move its local race day added more frustration to what has been a trying few years for the racing club, but it is looking forward to finally racing at home next year.

‘‘They were small things, but they were enough to cause us too much grief close to our meeting,’’ Cooney said.

‘‘It has been pretty damn frustrating. We didn’t need this going wrong at the end of it either.’’

The winning post and window adjustments should be completed for the Waimate Trotting Club’s March meeting, president Lex Williams said.

‘‘We are aiming to push that through in the next couple of months.’’

The club’s March meeting will run more than five years after the storm wiped out the course’s facilities.

Like the galloping club, the club had felt just as much frustration, Williams said.

Racing away from its home course has left the club out of pocket. Oncourse turnover figures at Oamaru were down compared to the money the club would expect to turn over at Waimate.

‘‘It is definitely down compared to what we did at home. Unfortunately Waimate people do not go across the river.’’