Daffodil Day fundraising races a source of pride

Hawke's Bay Racing clerk-of-the-course Murray Thompson. Others (from left) are John Walker, John Bary, Andrew 'Butch' Castles and Trudy Kirk. Photo / Duncan Brown

Punters can back the Cancer Daffodil Day fundraising cause both on and off the track on the first day of the three-day Bostock New Zealand Spring Racing Carnival in Hastings.

One horse in each of the nine races on Makfi Stakes day on August 29 will wear special silks in Cancer Society colours, with the TAB pledging to donate $1000 for each winner carrying the yellow flower.

It comes as Hawke's Bay Racing and the Cancer Society strive to surpass the $20,000 raised when they teamed up for the first time last year.

Cancer Society Hawke's Bay manager Trudy Kirk said last year's outcome was amazing. "It means a lot to us," she said. "We need every bit of support we can get, especially as we need to raise $600,000 a year - just for Hawke's Bay."

The announcement was made amid some emotion, with several of those present able to reflect on personal experiences of friends' battles with cancer.

Among them were racing centre manager appointee Andrew Castles and special guest and cricketer-turned-broadcaster Ian Smith, who had lost a mutual friend earlier this year, and premier Hawke's Bay trainer John Bary, who had experienced cancer within the family.

Cancer Society supporter, business advisors and accountants Crowe Horwath had also been touched, with a cancer scare involving a young member.

Company principle Steve Alexander said: "It's akin to a dark cloud that roams the earth randomly raining on people. And all of us know someone who has been rained on."

The Spring Carnival carries stakes of more than $1.5 million, including the $200,000 Makfi Stakes on the first day, the $200,000 Windsor Park Plate on the second day on September 19, and the $250,000 Livamol Classic on October 3, a 2040-metres race designed as a prelude to the Cox Plate in Australia on October 24.

In 2011, Bary went close to a cleansweep of all four races, a second placing in the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley coming after winning Classic in Hastings, a near century-old feature long known as the Ormond Memorial and, in 2007 and 2008 as New Zealand's richest- race, with stakes of $2 million.

Other features during the Spring Carnival include the Hawke's Bay Guineas and the Gold Trail Stakes, and associated events including the Bay Ford Punter of the Year competition and the Hunt and Seek Fashion in the Field, both on October 3.