The first day of the Bostock New Zealand Hawke's Bay spring racing carnival will be Saturday, September 19 followed by Saturday, October 3 and the final day on Saturday, October 17.
The first day of the Bostock New Zealand Hawke's Bay spring racing carnival will be Saturday, September 19 followed by Saturday, October 3 and the final day on Saturday, October 17.
The Bostock New Zealand Hawke's Bay spring racing carnival has had another minor reshuffle, with the Gold Trail Stakes now to be run on the first day instead of the last.
The dates for the three-day carnival have already been pushed back, with the first day now on Saturday, September 19 followed by the second day on Saturday, October 3 and the final day on Saturday, October 17.
The race dates for a proposed thoroughbred racing calendar through to early November were originally allocated on the assumption of both travel, and attendance, would be limited due to the Covid-19 alert level restrictions.
But, with those restrictions now removed, and both the Group 1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) and Group 1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) now reinstated to the Riccarton Park track in November, New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing thought it necessary to adjust some black-type events that sit around these races.
In consultation with members of the Pattern Committee, together with affected clubs, the following changes have been made.
Hawke's Bay Racing's Group 3 Gold Trail Stakes (1200m), which had been scheduled for the third day of the Hawke's Bay carnival, will now be brought forward to the first day, on September 19.
It will replace an 1100m three-year-old race run last year, which resulted in Jennifer Eccles being first past the post but later relegated to second behind Kali for alleged interference in the final stages.
The Group 3 Soliloquy Stakes (1400m) will be run at Te Rapa on October 24 (the same day as the Group 2 James and Annie Sarten Memorial, also over 1400m).
The Canterbury Stakes, run at Riccarton Park, will be moved from November 14 to October 24 and the Tauranga meeting (featuring the Group 2 weight-for-age Tauranga Stakes) is expected to return to its original date on November 14.
This last date change will need to be ratified by RITA.
NZTR said that, while there are other considerations to be made around black-type races as part of the dates process, it was deemed timely to confirm these particular changes for purposes of planning a programme for three-year-old horses.
Hawke's Bay Racing chief executive Darin Balcombe: "It (the Gold Trail Stakes) will now be a nice lead up to the Hawke's Bay Guineas and other three-year-old fillies races in the spring."
New Hawke's Bay Racing chief executive Darin Balcombe is pleased the Gold Trail Stakes is back to a date where it has traditionally been run in the past.
"It will now be a nice lead up to the Hawke's Bay Guineas and other three-year-old fillies races in the spring," he said.
The Gold Trail Stakes is also traditionally the first race in the New Zealand Bloodstock Three-year-old Filly of the Year series, which was taken out this season by Jennifer Eccles.
This year's Hawke's Bay spring carnival will also see a first with the two prestige jumping races at Hastings, the AHD Hawke's Bay Steeplechase (4800m) and Te Whangai Romneys Hawke's Bay Hurdles (3100m) run in September.
Both races would have normally been run at Hastings in late June but will now been held on the first day of the Hawke's Bay spring carnival, on September 19.
It is expected there will be a 10-race programme that day, the two jumping races and eight flat events.
The TAB has partially backed down on a plan that would have seen human betting operators on course replaced by self-service terminals for all but the biggest meetings.
The plan to move away from human betting staff on track is one of the cost-cutting measures the TAB has announced but it has met with a furious response from racegoers, many of whom do not know how to use the self-service machines.
The migration of on-course punters to betting either with their phones or using the machines will still continue but will not be brought in immediately to ensure a longer transition period.
The TAB has now agreed to allow betting operators on track for the rest of this season and next year, apart from smaller midweek industry meetings.
The smaller midweek meetings that will be without betting operators from next season tend to attract mainly regular horse racing participants so won't have the same walk-up crowds who are less likely to be unfamiliar with the self-service machines or without the TAB app on their phone.
The TAB has agreed to work with clubs hosting larger meetings, like some of Ellerslie's glamour days and the final day of the Hawke's Bay spring carnival, on bigger temporary totes to cater for casual racegoers.
HB horses ready to resume
More than 50 horses were in action at the Hastings track on Tuesday as Hawke's Bay Racing conducted a second set of jumpouts.
It followed the first set (on May 27) since the Covid-19 crisis and this time owners and the general public were allowed to attend.
A number of the thoroughbreds on show were two- and three-year-olds undergoing early education but there were also several proven race day performers getting ready for when gallops racing resumes at the end of this month.
Two of these were the open-class gallopers Hunta Pence and Peso, who both recorded impressive wins in their respective heats.
Hunta Pence contested the last of three 1000m heats and cruised to a 1-1/2 length win in a time of 1:02.3, which was two-and-a-half seconds faster than the others at the same distance.
The Patrick Campbell-trained Hunta Pence has not raced since finishing fifth over 1600m at Trentham on March 7. He spent several weeks out spelling during the country's lockdown but looks to have come back in great order for another preparation.
Peso also looks in tremendous order and he scored a decisive 2-1/4 length win over Dez and Call Me Jack in the only 1400m heat of the day.
Peso has not raced since February but trainers Paul Nelson and Corrina McDougal have managed to keep the horse's fitness level up during the Covid-19 crisis. The Colombia eight-year-old also won a 1200m jumpout at Hastings on May 27 and should be ready to compete when racing resumes.
Noted wet-track performer Dez also looks to be coming up well in another preparation and last year's Winter Cup winner should be close to his peak again when winter racing returns.
Trials are scheduled for the Otaki track next Wednesday, with entries closing with the Bureau at 12 noon on Tuesday, June 16.
