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THE placing of the Citrus Grove development into receivership will have no effect at all on the Poverty Bay Turf Club, which is continuing to work to get more race days at Makaraka, says president Alan Davidson.
The club sold the racecourse land to Citrus Grove in 2010 and has leased it since then.
In his annual report, Mr Davidson said the receivership had virtually no effect on the club. The club’s solicitor had placed a caveat on the property as a safeguard against sale, he said.
“We continue to have a good relationship with the owners and the receivers and, as a result, are confident in our planning towards expanding race meetings in Gisborne.”
The investments from the sale of the course continued to benefit the club and put it in an enviable position in the racing industry compared with many other clubs, he said.
The club was relaxed about its investment portfolio and had erred on the safe side by investing it at the low- to medium-risk level. The returns were not as high but the risks were minimal.
The club had to work hard to get enough horses for its last race day in February this year. It had a combined programme with Wairoa to increase stakes, provide very good travel subsidies and trainers’ bonuses.
Disappointment at small numbersThey were bitterly disappointed to find that when acceptances closed they had only 42 horses. After some hard lobbying and phone calls, they finished with 53. If that trend were allowed to continue, the viability of racing on the East Coast, which included Wairoa, would be questioned, he said.
The club’s annual race day this racing year will be on February 21, 2016. The committee has already spent many hours working to make it a success. The big challenge is to attract sufficient horses here for just one day’s racing.
“It is not as if we haven’t got a good track, good facilities and good stakes because we have,” Mr Davidson said.
“We have to overcome the distance to travel and the length of time away from home to make the effort worthwhile. We have noted an increase in patrons and families attending race day but without the horse numbers, the fields are small and this reflects on the turnover which, of course, is vital to ensure TAB participation.”
This year the club would not be entering into any joint ventures with Wairoa.
Mr Davidson said three new committee members had been welcomed and would bring a fresh approach. A major emphasis would be placed on social media to keep the public abreast of what was going on.
“With our community’s support, we know we can make it work to a point where we can convince NZ Thoroughbred Racing to increase the number of racing days in Gisborne,” he said.