Sunday push pays off for greyhound club

Perseverance has paid off for the Wairarapa Greyhound Racing Club.
A long time advocate of Sunday meetings without much success they have at last been rewarded in the racing calendar for the 2005-2006 season just released by the New Zealand Racing Board.
Two of the five meetings allocated to them at Solway Showgrounds will be held on Sundays, the first of them on September 18 and the second on January 8.
Their other three meetings will be staged on Friday, November 11, Thursday, December 29 and Wednesday, January 4.
Wairarapa GRC president Gary Caffell said his club had gone all out for Sunday meetings in their latest submissions to the NZRB
"We would have been quite happy to have all our meetings on Sundays but two out of five is a start. Hopefully we'll do even better next time round," he said.
Caffell said his club favoured Sundays because they were big on promoting picnic-style meetings with the emphasis on providing entertainment for the whole family and Sunday was the only suitable time for that to happen.
"Most racegoers work during the week and are involved in sporting activities on Saturdays so Sunday is the best way to go," he said. "Our objective is get Dad, Mum and the kids along for a fun day out".
Caffell said the beauty of greyhound racing was that an entire meeting could be all over in about three hours and that appealed to family groups.
"It's all quick fire stuff?.races are coming at you every 15 to 20 minutes," he said. "People seem to be into that sort of thing these days, they don't want to be hanging around waiting for something to happen."
Caffell believes that having three meetings over a 10-day period in late December-early January will be a big bonus for the Wairarapa club in terms of attracting
quality fields.
"Trainers will appreciate being able to give their charges so many runs on the same track over such a short period," Caffell said. "Obviously it adds to the pressure for those preparing the track especially if its wet, but we'd expect to get nominations from all over the North Island, and a few from the South Island as well."
Of all the greyhound racing clubs in New Zealand Wairarapa is regarded as the number one supporter of hurdle racing and the conducting of the New Zealand Championship Hurdles will again be a highlight of their programme for next season.
However, the intention is to have at least one hurdle race at each of their five meetings, and two if nominations permit.
"Hurdling is the most spectacular form of greyhound racing and we do everything we can to promote it,"Caffell said. "They are also very popular with punters and that's a real plus too!"
A feature of the January 4 meeting will be the second-ever running of the Inter-Provincial Cup, a middle distance event where entries are drawn from each each greyhound racing region in the country and handlers wear the colours of their respective provincial rugby teams
At which meeting the Wairarapa Cup will be staged is yet to be decided but Caffell said there was a good chance it would be moved from its regular Christmas-New Year slot to either the September or November meetings.
"We have to work out where it best fits in with the rest of the racing calendar and having it earlier looks on the cards,"Caffell said.
The Wairarapa GRC with their five meetings is the busiest of the four racing clubs operating within the Wairarapa region.
Next is the Wairarapa Racing Club which is based at Tauherenikau. They have been allocated three meetings for the 2005-2006 season??Sunday, November 6, Monday January 2 and Monday February 6.
The Masterton Racing Club will race on Saturday March 4 and Saturday May 13 and the Wairarapa Harness Racing Club on Monday January 2 (three races in conjunction with Tauherenikau gallops) and Thursday March 30.