Racing: They're off - If there's some juice left in the battery

The maintenance and set-up procedures of the starting gates used at Rotorua's debacle on Saturday have become part of a judicial inquiry.

Racecourse inspectors Bryan McKenzie and John McKenzie hope to have a report finalised and delivered to NZ Thoroughbred Racing by early next week.

Saturday's incident is believed to have been caused by a faulty battery cell, which tested fine early in the day.

The stalls are supplied by Northern Raceday Services to all northern racetracks except Ellerslie and Te Rapa, which own their own.

John McKenzie questions the method of the old NRS stalls compared with the new stalls the Auckland Racing Club bought from South Australian company Steriline.

"The Northern Raceday Service stalls are electro-mechanical, where the new Ellerslie stalls are gas-mechanical," said John McKenzie.

"They have a gas gauge which means if the gauge shows empty there is either no gas or it's faulty.

"There can be a lot of problems with electrical charge and it's always surprised me that it is not an absolute requirement that an electrical engineer is not at every race start."

For the service they provide, the Ellerslie gates, widely used in Australia and in Hong Kong, were remarkably cheap at $150,000 for 18 stalls.

Yesterday Racing Rotorua and its parent body TRAC announced they would refund float fees to Rotorua on Saturday for the Rotorua Stakes runners.

"This will effectively be a net payment to the owner, as they will not be charged a riding fee, nor will they be charged nomination and acceptance fees," said TRAC's Jim Waters.

"Regardless of payments being made, nomination and acceptance fees would never be charged to owners on such occasions."

NZ Thoroughbred Racing advised that no riding fees were payable under the rules, but TRAC has also agreed to make a "small payment" to the jockeys involved.

Waters believes the race being declared null and void will cost between $10,000 and $15,000.

Racing Rotorua is looking at the possibility of rescheduling the Rotorua Stakes or transferring the black type status of the race to another of the club's events.

TRAC's next Saturday licence is Racing Tauranga's premier day on June 24, where the Tauranga Classic is an identical race to the Rotorua Stakes, a listed $40,000 fillies and mares at weight-for-age event over 1400m.