Harness racing cut in PN
Manawatu¯’s harness racing fraternity is fighting the decision not to hold meetings in Palmerston North next season.
The Racing Industry Transition Agency released its calendar for next season and the Manawatu¯ Harness Racing Club, which usually holds about 18 meetings a year, has been left off.
Under the draft calendar, 14 venues have been slashed, with 43 fewer gallops and harness meetings, as the racing industry recovers from the effect of coronavirus. Consultation on the schedule ends on June 15.
No meetings will run in the North Island south of Cambridge.
Dan Lynch, president of the Manawatu¯ club, was disappointed, but said the club had made a proposal about holding joint meetings with the Palmerston North Greyhound Club.
The harness racing club owns the facility freehold and the greyhound club, which has weekly meetings, rents the track. ‘‘The news is pretty grim, but we’re not running up the white flag yet,’’ Lynch said.
Funding in the industry had dropped and Harness Racing New Zealand (HRNZ) had looked to maximise racing and minimise cost. But he said 50 per cent of the horses that race in Palmerston North were from the area. The Whanganui, Ka¯piti and Wairarapa clubs all hold their meetings in the city.
‘‘We will be actively contesting this and working with Harness Racing NZ to justify our position in why we feel we should be racing still.
‘‘We are a club that is financially secure. We’ve got good facilities and we’re not asset poor.
‘‘We provide a service for some of the horses that might not be as competitive up north. There’s a flow-on effect to the community. Our sponsorship sells out in a space of two hours each year and that’s from a lot of small-to-medium businesses in town. That flows on to a lot of owners. There’s a whole downstream impact.’’
Lynch said some lower North Island trainers would take their horses to Cambridge, but others would stop.
HRNZ chief executive Peter Jensen said the decision was driven by the effect of the coronavirus.
He said about 28 per cent of horses and race meetings were in the North Island and only three per cent of the national horse population was in the North Island south of Waikato.
‘‘The challenge is to make a full meeting viable,’’ he said. ‘‘Horses have to travel [to Palmerston North] from Waikato and often a truckload or two from Canterbury.’’
With 47 per cent of the country’s horses in Canterbury, the code wants to race as often as possible at Addington in Christchurch.
Jensen said the Manawatu¯ proposal was being considered. He said it was concerning there would be no racing in the lower North Island.
Doug Gale, a trainer near Bulls, was surprised at the decision because of the number of horses and successful trainers in the region. He hoped the club’s proposal would succeed.