Sun brings 4000 punters to Ruakaka Races

The warmest day of summer so far this season joined forces with the largest crowd seen oncourse at the Ruakaka Races for sometime.

Brilliant sunshine and around 4000 packed the racecourse facilities for the Interislander Summer Festival race day.

The Whangarei Racing Club had initially joined forces with Northland Harness to hold a dual code race day. Unfortunately the Harness Racing Club were forced to withdraw from the day due to lack of entries in their races, but that did not hamper the large turnout and a record oncourse turnover for the Club this year.

Two local trainers scored a win each the Dean and Donna Logan-trained Ishimine winning the Fell Engineering 1200, and Porshabeel, trained by Michael Manson, won the 91.6 More FM 1400.

Champion jockey James Mcdonald took the ride on Porshabeel. For McDonald, this would be his last official ride as an apprentice coming out of his time on the same day.

The Punters Club pool bets were laid on Race 4 to Race 8, a professional selectors choices were used throughout the day, unfortunately for ticket holders the final dividend was barely $2.

The Whangarei Racing Club races again at Ruakaka later this month. The Midsummers Day at the races will be held on January 18 with the focus of a 'picnic day out' for friends and family on the lawn.