Wairoa Racing Club looking after women jockeys ahead of races and cup-day

The crowd gets close to the action on a Wairoa Cup race day. PHOTO/FILE

A changing part of New Zealand racing has caught up with Wairoa where a chiller has had to be moved to make more room for female jockeys.

Preparing for the town's annual races tomorrow and cup-day on Sunday, Wairoa Racing Club president Paul Toothill said: "There are now more women jockeys than men."

As it happens, 43 per cent of New Zealand's licensed jockeys are female. This comes 40 years after the famed Linda Jones, a Hawke's Bay jockey named Cherie Laxon and two others became the first to ride at the races in this country in August 1978.

But Mr Toothill said at least eight female jockeys will be among the 15-16 riding during the meeting of eight races each day.

"Times are changing," he said, hopeful the club has seen the back of the worst of them, which have threatened the future of a small club which dates back almost 140 years.

In 2006 the races were held in Gisborne because of safety and other issues at the Wairoa club's Te Kupenga course. These were addressed with a new running rail and upgrades costing more than $80,000; also stalling the call for rationalising of race dates in the region which could have ended country racing.

The meeting follows a single day's Poverty Bay Turf Club racing in Gisborne last Sunday, and Mr Toothill said there's plenty of future of the three-day circuit and country racing in general.

The club owns the racecourse freehold, and with a farming operation on the property earning $40,000-$60,000 a year is profitable, he said.

Horses started arriving on Monday, although the large team of about 30 from the Waikato stables of veteran trainer and longtime eastern circuit supporter Graeme Rogerson delayed heading south from Gisborne pending updates on the movements of Cyclone Gita, now expected to have little to no impact on the meeting.

A star attraction at the meeting is Hastings galloper Wait A Sec, which caused a boilover on his home track by winning the Livamol Classic in October and has amassed stake-earnings of more than $350,000. The gelding is expected to race in the Wairoa Cup on Sunday.