NZTR quits Sundays to grab Aussie punters

From next March there may be no more winter Sunday thoroughbred meetings in New Zealand. Photo / NZHerald

Thoroughbred racing could be set to abandon most of its Sunday dates in favour of racing on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Herald investigations reveal a proposal being worked on by NZ Thoroughbred Racing to be put to the New Zealand Racing Board that will ask for a radical change in the dates' calendar which could see galloping meetings on Monday all year round.

Thoroughbred racing will also become more prevalent on Tuesdays as harness racing moves away from the day which is largely seen as a dumping ground for poor horses, with the racing mainly to attract Australian turnover.

That would mean fewer Sunday galloping meetings, mostly staged in summer, while harness racing will move to Sundays all year round.

NZ Thoroughbred Racing has yet to submit the proposal to all its clubs but it is sure to meet resistance from those worried about racing on Monday, which has traditionally been a non-racing day in this country outside of public holidays.

The changes are tagged to start next March, after Auckland Cup Week, and selling them to clubs and the Racing Board will be heavily reliant on the promise of increased Australian interest in our meetings early in the week.

NZ Thoroughbred Racing chief executive Greg Purcell says there is an opportunity for New Zealand to host the best thoroughbred meeting in Australasia most Mondays. "Most Mondays there are only two meetings in Australia, one in provincial New South Wales and the other in Victoria," said Purcell.

"So we have an opportunity to hold the best meeting in Australasia every Monday.

"There is a long way to go on this though and I don't want to say too much because all of our clubs haven't been consulted yet."

If the push for Mondays goes through then thoroughbred racing would turn its back on Sunday racing in winter, a plan which suits Harness Racing New Zealand.

"I can see a calendar where we [harness racing] only race Thursday to Sunday apart from about 14 Tuesdays spread over the summer," says HRNZ boss Edward Rennell.

Rennell believes by having more races at less meetings, harness racing will profit purely on an economy of scale basis.

"We want to hold 10 to 12 races at most of our meetings because it costs money to open the gates so if we are going to open them we might as well fit more races in.

"But that will need help from the Racing Board with the scheduling of races as we don't want the 12 races on say, a Friday night, to take six hours to run."

If NZ Thoroughbred Racing gets the backing of its clubs and the support of the Racing Board the changes are likely to be implemented for a three-year-old period.

That would require agreement from the two other racing codes but with the greyhound industry basically piggy-backing on the coverage of the two main codes and harness racing keen to get away from racing early in the week, the three codes should be able to present a united front.

Whether the thoroughbred community - owners, trainers, jockeys and industry participants - are quite so keen remains to be seen.

The idea of tapping into the enormous Australian punting population on their relatively dormant Monday sounds attractive but whether even punting mad Australians will want to be betting on New Zealand racing at 10.30am on a Monday is now the multi-million-dollar question.

If they do, and NZ Thoroughbred Racing's proposal is successful, New Zealand racing could be about to change forever.

Monday on their mind

- Thoroughbred racing could be set to move to Monday year-round in New Zealand.

- More Tuesday meetings would be held too, with galloping moving away from winter Sunday dates.

- Harness racing bosses welcome the move as they covet Thursday to Sunday dates.

- The move could come into effect next March and remain for at least three years.