Toothill said his club members just want some firm answers from NZTR going forward.
"We are racing at Hastings this season but long-term that is not for us. My heart is not for racing in Hastings," Toothill added.
The feature race at the Hastings meeting on February 21 will be the Wairoa Country Cup and Toothill said his club is confident the stake can be maintained at $30,000, the same as it was when the Wairoa Cup was run on the home track back in February this year.
"I haven't discussed anything with our other sponsors yet and it is going to be hard to get them on board when we aren't racing at Wairoa. But we will just have to see what happens."
He added that the club will be putting on buses to bring members down from Wairoa to Hastings for the February race day and is hopeful of a good attendance.
The Wairoa Racing Club was formed in 1879 and has been one of the iconic country race meetings on the east coast of the North Island. It used to stage an annual three-day meeting in February but that was reduced to just two days, Thursday and Sunday, in recent years.
The club farms the majority of the racecourse and Toothill says the club is still quite financial, relying on voluntary assistance from committee and community members to help run the race days.
When Paul Toothill took over as president in 2006, the Wairoa Racing Club had just lost their race days to Gisborne, due to the facilities at its racecourse being deemed unfit for racing in 2005.
"We spent a lot of money and got the place functional again," says Paul. "We got the green light to race again in 2006 and have never looked back."
The Wairoa Racing Club prides itself as being one of the most hospitable clubs in the country and has regularly arranged several social gatherings throughout the four days surrounding its annual race meeting.
The Cossack slays his rivals again
Exciting Hawke's Bay owned and trained jumper The Cossack produced another demolition job on his rivals when taking out a $15,000 restricted open hurdle at Te Aroha last Sunday.
The Mastercraftsman 7-year-old scored by 19 -1/2 lengths in the 3100m event and that followed a 20-length victory in a maiden hurdle on the same track earlier this month.
The Cossack is trained at Hastings by Paul Nelson, who owns the gelding in partnership with well known Hawke's Bay racing identities John Frizzell and Peter Grieve, along with Grieve's son Doug.
The quartet purchased The Cossack privately from Peter Grieve's brother Ivan and Hastings trainer John Bary, who had prepared the horse to win two races on the flat.
The Cossack had two hurdle starts last winter for two seconds but he looks to have gone to another level this time in, with his two impressive wins preceded by a fresh-up second over hurdles at Te Rapa last month.
Top jumps jockey Aaron Kuru got The Cossack to settle nicely midfield in the early stages of last Sunday's race before letting him move forward to join the leaders with a round to go.
They went clear of the opposition entering the last 700m and had a four-length advantage rounding the home turn, with three fences left to jump.
The Cossack did get in a bit close at the second-to-last fence but was clever enough to get over it safely and, after skipping over the last, he raced away to win untouched.
HB-bred New York Jazz in tune again
Hawke's Bay-bred and owned New York Jazz recorded his fourth win from 20 starts when getting in the deciding stride over London Express in a $30,000 Rating 90 race over 1200m at Matamata last Saturday.
The 5-year-old Niagara gelding was bred by the Hastings brothers Chris and Ken Russell and is still owned by Chris.
He has leased the horse out to Te Awamutu trainer Stephen Ralph, who races him in partnership with members of the Sutton family from the Waikato.
New York Jazz is the second foal produced by the Coats Choice mare Shesalljazz, who recorded five wins, three seconds and a third when trained at Hastings by Patrick Campbell.
The first foal out of the mare was Nigella Jazz, also by Niagara, and she has won one race.
"She then produced a nice filly by Reliable Man but we unfortunately lost her and the mare has now left a yearling filly by O'Reilly's Choice," Russell said.
Shesalljazz is presently empty and Chris Russell is now deciding on what stallion to mate her with this year.
Melody Belle may contest HB classics
There is an outside chance glamour racemare Melody Belle could contest the last two Group 1 races at this year's Bostock New Zealand Hawke's Bay spring carnival.
The 6-year-old is booked on a flight home from Sydney tomorrow after finishing an inconclusive 11th out of 16 in last Saturday's Group 1 Winx Stakes (1400m) at Randwick.
While that second-up run failed to provide a true guide as to how the Jamie Richards-trained mare has returned, the 34-strong syndicate who race the two-time New Zealand Horse of the Year are keen to enjoy their pride and joy in the flesh as opposed to watching her on TV from afar.
Waipukurau couple Trevor and Debbie Walters own a 10 per cent share in Melody Belle, which is the biggest individual shareholding.
Fortuna Syndications director John Galvin said although Melody Belle has been unplaced in each of her two starts this campaign, both runs were satisfactory.
"We actually think she's going quite well, it's just that her first-up run [when sixth in the Missile Stakes] was her standard first-up run and obviously she had no luck last Saturday," he said.
"She got into a nice spot and then one of the other horses, Con Te Partiro, came across her and she got shuffled back and then no gaps opened for her at any stage. But she was quite strong to the line."
The 10-time Group 1 winner was on a path towards the Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) at Flemington, a race she won last year before finishing second in the Group 1 MacKinnon Stakes (2000m), but with the uncertainties around the Victorian Covid-19 outbreak, Melody Belle is now likely to race in New Zealand through the spring and summer.
"She's had seven runs over there without greeting the judge and our ownership team back here in New Zealand are quite frustrated because they can't go to the races and there's some nice targets for her here," Calvin said.
Group 1 races at Hastings, including the $250,000 Windsor Park Plate (1600m) on October 3 and $250,000 Livamol Classic (2040m) on October 17, could be considered for the mare, who is likely to be in her final season of racing.
"She's not nominated for the Group 1 races at Hastings but there is a late nomination fee option for her," Calvin said.
He indicated the first Group 1 race at the Bostock New Zealand Hawke's Bay spring carnival (Tarzino Trophy over 1400m on September 19) will probably come up a bit early but the last two haven't been ruled out and obvious targets later in the year are the Group 1 Captain Cook Stakes (1600m) at Trentham and Group 1 Zabeel Classic (2000m) at Ellerslie. She hasn't contested those races before.
"But Hawke's Bay is still on the radar and we'll make a decision on that once she gets back and Jamie gets to look at her. He hasn't seen her since the All Star Mile in Sydney on March 14," Calvin added.
Melody Belle was purchased for $57,500 as a yearly at Karaka by Te Akau's David Ellis and she has won $3.4 million in prizemoney, while the mare will have residual value in the millions at the end of her racing career.