Iconic Kumara races latest called off
New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing has met with its participants to address what a top trainer described as ‘‘a complete embarrassment to the industry’’, as Kumara became the latest in a spate of abandonments.
The annual Kumara Racing Club meeting scheduled for Saturday, featuring the Gold Nuggets race, was abandoned for a second straight year after more than 200mm of rain was recorded in the area since Tuesday.
Remarkably, it was the eighth New Zealand meeting in the first 13 days of 2018 to be postponed or abandoned due to an unsafe track.
‘‘I think we are all aware that the weather can play havoc at times but the circumstances around some of the abandonments in the last week are ridiculous and we just can’t carry on like this,’’ Waikato-based trainer Tony Pike told NZ Racing Desk this week.
‘‘The livelihoods of so many people are being put in serious jeopardy and I just don’t know how much more we can take.’’
New Zealand has 52 racetracks and most of the abandonments happened on small, rarely used courses.
Omakau in Central Otago was postponed for two days, reportedly due to a malfunctioning sprinkler on one part of the track, and the same problem was understood to have contributed to the abandonment of the Otaki meeting last Friday.
In a statement, NZTR confirmed a meeting with key industry participants took place on Wednesday to discuss the spate of race abandonments, and how the industry could work to better manage how these were dealt with.
It included representatives from NZTR, the Racing Integrity Unit (RIU), the NZ Trainers Association, the NZ Jockeys Association, and a number of clubs.
‘‘We have experienced a disappointing start to the year, with a number of our highly popular summer meetings impacted, and only some of them able to be rescheduled,’’ said NZTR chief executive Bernard Saundry.
‘‘Not only is this disappointing for our race-goers who have missed out on a great day out, every lost meeting is a cost to our industry we simply can’t afford. This includes the loss of stakes to owners to the costs of transporting horses and wages for staff for days with little or no racing.’’
Saundry described the meeting as productive and agreed on the following actions which NZTR hoped to implement by March:
● A further assessment of the
2018/19 dates calendar, which is currently out for industry consultation, with a focus on reducing the impact of events of this nature.
● Provide improved networks across the country to support clubs and raceday stewards in decisionmaking. These will include independent and professional advice from meteorology services to increase the opportunity to reschedule events ahead of the raceday, should the weather pattern place a high risk on the meeting continuing.
● Further co-ordination between the club, NZTR and the RIU to support improvements in the preparation of tracks that race infrequently or are otherwise vulnerable to adverse weather conditions to better manage their readiness for their big events.
● Improving planning over the days and weeks leading up to the race meetings to ensure we are better prepared events including adverse weather that we have experienced over the past two weeks.
● Improving the communication protocols between NZTR, Racing Integrity Unit and clubs and participants on track related issues.
Saundry said: ‘‘Our objective will be to reduce the number of abandonments by 30 per cent in the next calendar year.
‘‘It is clear the industry is dealing with complex infrastructure issues.’’
He said NZTR was committed to working with thoroughbred clubs and stakeholder groups, the New Zealand Racing Board (NZRB), the harness and greyhound racing codes, and the Government to develop a meaningful longer-term plan.