Ready to race for club’s biggest day
Mid-Canterbury horse trainers are targeting the Christmas races in Invercargill today.
More than 100 horses are entered today, with south Auckland trainer Sean Cameron lining up runners as part of his trip to race in Southland and Otago during the holidays.
Mt Somers trainers Terrill Charles and Peter Corbett will have the biggest team starting – eight horses.
‘‘We couldn’t fit anymore on the truck,’’ Corbett said.
High stake money is the reason the mid-Canterbury trainers are bringing a big team to Ascot Park.
Apart from a $10,000 maiden race, the other eight events carry stakes of $22,500, $25,000, $30,000 or $35,000.
‘‘We target these [high stakes] meetings,’’ Corbett said.
And, with 20 degree Celsius temperatures expected, once gain fashion is likely to overshadow the horses at Ascot Park.
The Southland Racing Club is in its 11th year of being part of the New Zealand Racing Board’s Christmas at the Races promotion.
Club president Sean Bellew said usually, about 6000 people attend and it was the biggest one day event in Southland.
‘‘It takes a month to set up and we’ll still be setting up till 10.30 on Saturday [morning].’’
The club has arranged for between 150 and 200 workers to help officials run the event, including 42 security guards and 80 or 90 assigned to liquor-related roles and cleaning up duties.
Invercargill clothing retailers Mary-Jane Johnstone (Liz Thomas Designer Clothing) and Annie Ward (Margo’s Fashion Boutique) have had customers buying dresses and fascinators for the race meeting.
‘‘It’s a really big day and there will be a lot of colourful dresses,’’ Johnstone said.
She thought more than 10 dresses had been bought from her store especially for the event.
Ward said she had sold fascinators to racegoers, but demand was not as great as noted before the Melbourne Cup in November.
Some Southlanders who went to the Cup bought up to 12 dresses or fascinators.