Horse racing: Hamilton's unlikely hero: Te Rapa tracks in right direction

Photo / Trish Dunell

An unlikely hero of New Zealand racing will take centre stage on the final day of the thoroughbred racing season today. That hero is the once-maligned Te Rapa track.

Te Rapa will today host the last black type race of the season, the Ryder Stakes for two-year-olds, after it had to be moved from today's abandoned Otaki meeting.

That is the latest in a string of salvation jobs by the Hamilton track this season after they also held the Captain Cook Stakes and NZ Breeders (both Group 1s), Wellesley Stakes and others after Covid restrictions in Auckland late last year, and track maintenance and raceday issues at other venues meant some of New Zealand's best races needed a new home. They found one at Te Rapa, even if only for one year.

Te Rapa will fill an even larger void next season when two of New Zealand's iconic racedays, New Year's Day and Derby Day, move from the under-renovation Ellerslie to Hamilton, as will the Pakuranga Hunt and Great Northern jumps meetings.

That means an enormous extra workload for the Waikato Racing Club team but chief executive Andrew Castles says he is proud to help.

"Next season is going to be huge for us hosting those massive racedays as well as our own traditional major meetings," Castles told the Weekend Herald yesterday.

Castles says Te Rapa would not have been able to step up as it has a few years ago when the track was widely panned for kick back issues after the wrong sand was used on it. Enter Te Rapa's personal hero, track manager Bart Cowan.

"What Bart and his team have been able to do here is enormous," says Castles.

"He is world-class and came on board at a very tricky time but has worked really hard to get the track back to what it should be.

"He has experienced staff which really helps but one of the crucial factors is he cares. He cares about his track and how it presents and works hard to achieve that."

Cowan may be good at his job, but unless he owns the world's biggest umbrella, Te Rapa is going to be soaked today, like every other piece of turf in the country.

It may not be the most attractive form of racing but there will still be winners to be had, with the best backed at the meeting being Two Madison (R8, No2) in the Taumarunui Cup.

The Lance O'Sullivan/Andrew Scott-trained mare loves Te Rapa on a wet day and her 4kg claim with Yuto Kumagai in the saddle takes her down to the 53kg luxury weight that usually wins these Cup races.

Last-start Ruakaka winner Pacific Dragon opened at a very backable $5.50 in the Ryder Stakes. But bookies are now favouring Sophmaze and Winexpress to handle the wet better than Pacific Dragon.

But in reality, every horse in the Ryder Stakes is already a winner.

Because unless Te Rapa had stepped up again, none of them would be chasing the valuable black type they are today to end one of the more remarkable seasons in New Zealand racing history.