One last hurrah
Hundreds turned out on Saturday with gazebos, deck chairs, and a chilly bin full of cold beverages to enjoy what might be Stratford’s last race day.
Stratford is one of 20 racecourses that will close if the controversial Messara Report into the New Zealand racing industry is adopted.
The report’s author, Australian administrator and horse breeder John Messara, was commissioned by Racing Minister Winston Peters to look at the racing industry and recommend ways to return it to profitability.
For sisters Simone Paul and Corinne Rayner, who had been attending the annual races at Stratford for 10 years, it was a sad occasion.
‘‘It’s the end of an era for us. We’ll miss it,’’ Paul, who travels down from Hamilton to go to the races with her sister, said.
‘‘It’s bittersweet. I’m sad if it’s the last one but glad I’m here for it.’’
The Stratford races were a family tradition for the sisters. They’d tried other race days but none compared.
‘‘We went to the New Plymouth races and didn’t like the atmosphere,’’ Rayner said.
‘‘It was for the young trendies,’’ Paul added.
The pair always get dressed up and wear a hat and just so happened to co-ordinate in red at the Saturday event.
They put small bets on but never won more than $30.
‘‘I’m a big gambler, a dollar each way,’’ Rayner laughed.
‘‘Some years we have a lot of wins and go home with a profit, other times we break even,’’ Paul added.
This month Racing Minister Winston Peters announced a ministerial advisory committee to inform the next steps on the Messara Review of the New Zealand Racing Industry.
The committee will provide a report to Peters by the end of February, to be followed by Cabinet decisions, and legislation.
If the report were to be adopted, not only would Stratford lose its race day, the entire course would be sold off and the money put into the racing industry even though Stratford Racing own the land freehold.
‘‘We expected, like a lot of the other little clubs around the country, that we would lose our race day but we certainly didn’t think the recommendation in the report would have us selling up and not able to continue as a training centre,’’ Stratford Racing Club president John Gray said.
‘‘We don’t cost the industry a cent to operate, that’s something people don’t seem to realise. It’s all volunteers.
‘‘There will be a hell of a tear in my eye if this year is our last race day.’’ Club