Ōtaki ready for dual-code racing
Fourteen races scheduled for event
An Ōtaki race meeting will buck a trend in the new year. Race meetings tend to hold fewer races these days, so punters will get value for money with 14 races programmed for the dual-code meeting between the Ōtaki-māori Racing Club and the Kāpiti Coast Harness Racing Club on January 4.
Six races on the programme will be harness races — the only harness racing in the Wellington region this season — while eight galloping races were expected to be added to the card.
Kāpiti Coast Harness Racing Club president Chris Craddock said he was looking forward to staging harness racing on grass on a track like Ōtaki.
“It’s North Island grass-track harness racing at its very best on a wonderful sole of grass, resulting from an extensive grass re-sowing programme and track drainage work undertaken by the Ōtaki Maori Racing Club in recent years,” he said.
It was the fourth year in a row the clubs had combined to stage the dual-code meeting at Otaki, and Craddock said it gave racegoers the best of both worlds.
He was hoping his horse, Raging Whitebait, would be racing on the day. Trained at Bulls by Doug Gale, the horse had shown plenty of promise.
Gale was expecting to line up a team of five horses, while local Ōtaki harness trainer Wendy Devenport will also have horses racing on the day, including grass-track specialist Uncle Drew
Levin harness trainer Murray Gibbs, too, will be bringing a team to Ōtaki, no doubt primed to perform well at the annual local harness race meeting.
Craddock said there would be plenty of free activities for the children, including bouncy castles, face painting, a drawing competition, fun run events, treasure hunts, lolly scramble, tug of war and much more.
Gates open at 10.30am, and the first race is at 11.27am.