Racing: Cancellation no disaster for strong Waverley Racing Club

WELLINGTON- Waverley Racing Club's strong financial position means it will not suffer unduly from the abandonment of its meeting on Saturday.

That is the opinion of club president Craig Lupton, who said the club was debt-free and although he was unsure what the abandonment would cost them he was confident it would not impact heavily upon it.

"It's lucky we are in a good [financial] position and we can stand it," said Lupton.

Saturday's meeting was called off after the second of 10 scheduled races because of a slippery surface.

In the opening event a horse fell near the winning post. The meeting was delayed while the running rail was moved around the trouble spot.

But in the second race another horse fell at a completely different section of the track, about 600m from the finish.

It was then decided the track was unsafe and the meeting abandoned.

Said Lupton: "The ground was quite hard underneath but the top was a bit wet and it became slippery."

It was the club's first meeting since it spent about $20,000 on track re-alignment and another $28,000 installing a new running rail.

Lupton said further work would be carried out on the track before its next meeting in June.

"It was just one of those things," he said.

While the abandonment of the meeting was disappointing for the club, connections of horses and punters, it did have at least two positive spinoffs.

They came for the Cambridge Jockey Club, whose off-course turnover topped $2.4 million at Te Rapa on Saturday and the Invercargill Harness Racing Club, whose off-course take was over $1.2 million, both figures well above budget.

- NZPA