Racing: New start gates in action at Kiwifruit Cup meet

Local trainer Jim Pender with Adriatic Pearl, who will start in the featured Team Wealleans Tauranga Classic today. Photo / Stuart Whitaker

Racing Tauranga will unveil the first new starting stalls to be used at the course for 65 years at today's Orora Kiwi Packaging/LRK Trays' Kiwifruit Cup Day.

Club committee member and on-course based trainer Jim Pender says the new stalls feature a different, overhead design.

"They are reinforced so you are not going to get problems where on uneven ground or whatever the gates aren't opening, which we have had problems with over the last few years," he said.

"There have been quite a few horses including one of mine where the gates didn't open and she was held up in the start."

Pender says the new stalls have had some issues with horses trying to escape out from the gap at the bottom, including one of his horses running in race one today.

"Pinz Charming burrowed out under the stalls the first time he had been in the new starting stalls. He put his head down and could see daylight so he decided to go. He headed off without the jockey so he was a late scratching at Matamata and made a bit of a mess.

"He had a few cuts on his neck so we will have to be mindful of that [today] and hopefully someone will be up there hanging on to his head to keep him up," Pender says.

Today's meeting has a nine-race card, including the 2015 Kiwifruit Cup and the featured Team Wealleans Tauranga Classic (listed), a weight-for-age race over 1400m for fillies and mares worth $50,000.

Racing gets under way at 11.57am, with the last field to jump at 4.14pm. The 2015 Radio Sport BOP Punter of the Year worth thousands of dollars in prizes is also up for grabs. Entries must be received at the club office on course by 11.30am.

And a tip from Pender?

"Wainui Prince in race 2. I have put an apprentice girl on him so that takes 3kg off and he will run around with 51. I think it was this meeting last year he won at. It is only his second start back from a spell ... Ohope Prince [race 7] has got good solid form and has a good draw, so he looks a solid chance on paper."