Wairoa is at risk of losing one of its two major annual events if the Government adopts recommendations of a report on the racing industry.
Released by Minister of Racing and deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, the report by Australian consultant John Messara proposes scratching 20 courses from the galloping programme throughout the country — reducing the number from 48 to 28.
Among them is Wairoa Te Kupenga Racecourse, where the next race meeting, and possibly the last, is scheduled for February 21 and 24.
It is one of 11 courses the report says should be closed in the following season, with the possibility its two days of action — which on the Wairoa calendar holds parallel billing alongside the Wairoa A and P Show — could be held at Gisborne's Makaraka track, where just one day's racing is held each year.
There are, however, no horses in training at Wairoa, where the club's viability is maintained by sheep farming on the property between Wairoa and Frasertown.