Avondale’s race over: West Auckland track to close and set for sale

Today looms as one of the most dramatic in New Zealand horse racing history, with the closure of some major tracks set to become a reality.

And the jewel in the closure crown could be Avondale in West Auckland, which will almost certainly not be allocated any more race meetings for next season or in the future.

Up to 10 thoroughbred racetracks around the country will lose their racing licences in the proposed dates calendar to be released by the Racing Industry Transition Agency (the TAB), with the addition of one racing venue when the synthetic track which is under construction at Cambridge is completed.

Harness racing will also close many tracks with no racing dates allocated to regular venues Forbury Park in Dunedin and the Manawatu harness track in Palmerston North.

Other venues understood to be likely to close or at least have one of their racing codes taken away from them include Timaru while Southland will be reduced to two harness tracks, in Invercargill and Winton.

If the proposed calendar is not changed, and there could still be some last-minute arguing, New Zealand will have 32 fewer thoroughbred meetings next season.

Many of the track closures align with the Messara report recommendations of August 2018 and while they may not be a surprise, the

swiftness with which they are being brought in will shock plenty and even outrage those in areas where racing fans will be left without a local track.

Key factors in the decisions, which were made after consultation between all three codes and RITA, were the costs of racing at each venue, returns to the industry and owners and the horse population trained in that area.

What happens to many of the tracks is a huge economic question for the industry, with proposed changes to the Racing Act, which could still possibly be passed before the September election, suggesting some tracks could be sold and the proceeds returned to the industry.

The most valuable of those would be Avondale, which could be worth between $150 million-$200m and would provide a huge boost for racing’s financial problems if it can be used for the industry’s greater good.

But even if that becomes legally possible under the new Racing Act, Avondale Jockey Club officials have made it quite clear in the past they want none of that and suggestions of legal action to fight it, at least initially, look certain.

In a week where the Government has come to racing’s rescue with $72.5m, the appetite for more talk and consultation appears to be over, with RITA declaring it will make changes to improve the industry’s bottom line whether they are popular or not.

Covid-19 and the financial chaos it has caused has sped up those changes, many of which might have taken years to implement.

The reality is they are here now and, for better or worse, New Zealand racing will change forever today.