A new era in South Island racing starts at Riccarton today but local trainer Andrew Carston says many rival trainers don't know what to expect.
Riccarton holds its first synthetic track meeting, with seven races on the new track which will be used for the major meeting on Saturday.
Synthetic track racing arrived in New Zealand at Cambridge last year and has been a successful training and trialling tool, with the race meetings held on the surface tending to be midweek industry-type days as opposed to Saturday meetings.
While not all trainers are fans of synthetic track racing it suits more horses and is better quality than the winter slogs which were bogging down the thoroughbred industry.
Carston says winter is when the new synthetic track will show its worth. "We have been training on it for a while and had four or five trial meetings but we haven't needed it that much yet because the grass track has been good," he said.