Jay and Kirsten McIntosh claim their ground at the Hastings racecourse - 24 hours ahead of the first race at the New Year's Eve Races. Photo / Paul Taylor
Jay and Kirsten McIntosh claim their ground at the Hastings racecourse - 24 hours ahead of the first race at the New Year's Eve Races. Photo / Paul Taylor
First-time Hawke's Bay New Year racegoers Jay and Kirsten McIntosh are unworried about a change in a century-old tradition which sees the big annual attraction being held in the old year.
Like dozens of others, they got in early on Thursday to bang up the gazebo in a three-hour "window"provided by Hawke's Bay Racing for general public to pitch camp in readiness for the races on Friday.
Jay McIntosh said 30-40 other gazebos and marquees were also in place by the time he and his wife had completed making their claim, the gazebo well positioned for the view of the charge up the Hastings racecourse straight from the time the first race starts at 12.20pm.
For the first time it's the New Year's Eve Races, after more than 130 years as a January 1 family and picnic day out tradition as one of the biggest events in Hawke's Bay each year.
But the change was necessary to save the races, with Hawke's Bay Racing chief executive officer Darin Balcombe saying the dwindling number of horses each year had made the meeting unviable in recent years and had put the meeting at serious risk of cancellation.
Last year there were just six races and only 49 starters, but this year there will be eight races, with 88 runners having been entered when fields were declared earlier this week.
New Year's Day Races at Hastings Racecourse last year. This year it's on New Year's Eve, first race at 12.20pm. Photo / NZME
The numbers are a big comedown from the halcyon days of a two-day New Year holiday race meeting with 150 or more horses, and crowds of 10,000 or more.
But Balcombe said the increased horse numbers justified the change of day, which was made to avoid clashing with the Auckland New Year's Day Races, which had impacted on the numbers of horses and jockeys available to race in Hastings.
Some of the trainers would also have had horses entered for Thursday's Taupo Cup races and Saturday's Auckland meeting at Ellerslie, highlighting the busy schedule of some stables and trainers.
The advance interest from the punters, with online ticket sales, demand for corporate and other sites, and the public rush to get the best picnic and viewing spots sorted ahead of the big day, was also more than promising.
"It's very good," he said.
Rapid Falls, which won for Cambridge trainer Tony Pike at last year's Hawke's Bay New Year Races. He returns with at least three runners this Friday. Photo / Kenton Wright (Race Images)
Jay McIntosh had been to the Spring Carnival races a few times in Hastings and likes to have a bit of a wager at the TAB, but had not been aware of the potential for the scrapping of the New Year races if things didn't improve.
"It's good detail to know," he said, reiterating the invitation for friends and family to join them at the races, for which MetService was forecasting a near perfect day - fine weather, light winds and sea breezes, temperatures up to 24 degrees Celsius.
It'll be all over in time to head off to other New Year's Eve festivities, with the last race at 4.31pm.
