Racing: Off-course bets trial

Wairarapa Harness Racing Club has convinced racing's hierarchy to let it claim money bet in a special room many kilometres from the track as on-course turnover.

The club, which has been financially strapped for years, put a proposition to the New Zealand Racing Board to treat a tote installed at Masterton Cosmopolitan Club as an on-course facility for its meeting on Friday.

The board agreed and the pilot project is expected to significantly boost club profits.

Wairarapa HRC has been staging its meetings in Palmerston North since funding changes in 1996 forced it to abandon its Hutt Park venue.

New Zealand Racing Board chief executive Graeme Hansen said it was the unique geographical situation the club found itself in that swayed the board to agree to the trial.

The board had "deliberated at length" before giving approval.

The Wairarapa club had been reminded that it was "quite specifically a trial," Hansen said.

Wairarapa club president Wayne Stewart hoped the Cosmopolitan Club special totes would boost turnover between $15,000 and $20,000.

- NZPA