Racing: Punters' graveyard finally gets revamp

The best news in racing is that the Tauranga course proper is no longer.

It disappeared at 9am yesterday without a mourner in sight.

What the contractors that yesterday shaved off the grass then took a deep gouge out of the main track didn't hear was the collective sigh of relief from punters who have done their money cold on a rain-affected Tauranga surface for years.

The timing of the death of that surface could not have been more appropriate - Saturday's meeting was a deadly trap for punters - at least six or seven smart gallopers that look destined for really big things finished down the track, failing completely to handle the surface affected by more than 84mm of rain in five days.

You don't have to go any further than the day's feature, the $120,000 First Sovereign Japan / NZ Trophy, to see the devastation the rain and subsequent conditions wrought on punters.

You make no friends saying this, but as game as the winner Sir Slick was and as underrated as he is, if he was the best horse in the field I'll win the Olympic marathon in two years' time.

Good on Sir Slick - he tried his heart out - and good on Graeme Nicholson, who ended a quarter of a century of trying to win a group-rated race and saw the occasion as a victory for the battler.

We shouldn't pick on Sir Slick - it's not the horses that triumph because of an off track that punters object to, it's the horses that are severely inconvenienced.

And few tracks in the country have brought about the downfall of well-fancied horses after rain more regularly than Tauranga.

Temple Hills, La Sizeranne and Atapi all raced lengths below their best behind Sir Slick.

Temple Hills, who will make a big name for himself in the next 12 months, had the perfect run and looked to be bolting under replacement rider Michael Coleman on the home bend.

But when Coleman let the big bloke's head go and asked for a sprint, the track surface brought him undone.

This is also not a pick at Racing Tauranga - after all if they didn't think the same they wouldn't be spending $410,000 of their own money replacing the track.

You cannot heap enough congratulations on Racing Tauranga.

For the last two years the club has attracted steadily growing numbers of raceday patrons and has almost mystically generated the best racecourse atmosphere in New Zealand.

At every half-decent raceday you continue to be staggered by the ever-increasing numbers that attend.

Saturday's terrific Tauranga crowd bet $280,000 on course on a day when everyone acknowledged betting would be difficult and big punters were halving their bets.

Club CEO Jim Waters believes two of the reasons for Tauranga's steadily growing its support is that the area is the country's second-highest growth district in population and the fact that Tauranga allows race fans to get close to the action.

Whatever the reason, Racing Tauranga is on the right track, or, if you pardon the pun, they will be when the surface reconstruction is completed, hopefully in time to stage a barrier trials meeting in late October.

When RT combines a top class racing surface with its ability to draw crowds it will go through the roof.

The track is being widened between 5m and 10m to provide better use of the movable running rail, the camber on the bends will be adjusted, then 12,000m of draining will be added before the soil is rolled back into place.

"When the grass is sown after de-compaction, hopefully at Easter, there should some autumn growth, then we'll get spring growth and without serious weather intervention, we should be racing back here in mid-November," said Waters.

The five racedays before November have been transferred to Rotorua (2), Te Aroha (2) and Matamata.

Among the horses that appeared to be hampered badly on Saturday were, The Myth, Captain Kurt, Vaalu, Leigh Valley and Howmuchyacharging.