Horse races at the Hastings racetrack have been cancelled for the immediate future, just weeks after the abandonment of a race due to safety concerns and the eventual relocation of Hawke’s Bay Racing’s biggest horse race to Waikato.
In a statement released on Tuesday, HBRI (Hawke’s Bay Racing Inc) and NZTR (New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing) management jointly announced that because of continued concerns around the track’s performance, the decision had been made to bring forward a reconstruction of the track.
As a result, racing would not resume at the venue in the immediate future.
The move follows the assessment of the Hastings track after a horse slipped, but did not fall, on what was to have been the first race of the second day of the Colliers Spring Racing Carnival in late September.
Subsequently, the highly anticipated Livamol Classic, scheduled for last weekend, was moved to Hamilton. Instead, a phantom race day took place, with the races shown on the big screen at the track alongside live entertainment.