Season sees fewer meetings

NEW STRATEGY: Whangarei Racing Club will be staging fewer races like this at Ruakaka Racecourse this coming season. PHOTO/MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM

Whangarei Racing Club has cut two race meetings this year due to a new strategy from New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing and the New Zealand Racing Board.

A strategy of reducing activity has led to the new racing season having 19 fewer meetings and 244 fewer races.

WRC will have nine meetings this year, down from 11 last year, while Dargaville Racing Club has cut its two meetings down to one annual meeting.

WRC was unsuccessful in seeking a mid-December Sunday meeting, and was instead allocated the traditional winter racing season and a single summer meeting in January.

WRC general manager Bill Colgan said Avondale and Counties Racing are taking on more races.

"They have been closed for a number of years, but are now operating full-time," he said.

"We took on a lot of their races, but because of this our meetings have dropped."

The driver for the new NZTR strategy is to maintain the higher level of prizemoney that was introduced in December 2015 for a full racing season.

There is an expectation from WRC that there will be limited or no increase in funding for the thoroughbred code for 2016/17.

Coglan said NZTR have taken the strategy to reduce races and maintain prizemoney.

"They either had to maintain the level of stake money and reduce the number of funded races, or maintain the same number of races and reduce the stake money," he said.

"When the industry is not performing well it is always a delicate balance of money and races. It's a catch-22 situation."

Saturday, June 18 marks the start of the winter racing season for WRC with over $200,000 in prize money on offer across eight races.

This will be the first meeting for WRC at the new prizemoney levels that were introduced in December 2015.

The two open events over 1600m and 1200m are the most lucrative races, with $30,000 on offer.

Meanwhile, local horses have been performing particularly well.

Kaye Taylor trained Playboy Prince and Clayton Stevenson's Smedley both won races in Auckland.

Local trainers Kenny and Lisa Rae have enjoyed considerable success in Canterbury, with Retallick winning the NZ Bloodstock race and Absolut Excelencia winning the Christchurch Casino Open.