Harness racing will also close many tracks with no racing dates allocated to regular venues Forbury Park in Dunedin and the Manawatu harness track in Palmerston North.
Unless the latter is overturned, and dual codes meetings between greyhounds and harness are still being discussed, there would be no harness racing meetings held anywhere in the North Island south of Cambridge again.
Other venues understood to be likely to close or at least have one of their racing codes taken away from them include Timaru - always an emotional hot button for racing fans as it was the birthplace of New Zealand's greatest horse, Phar Lap.
The track named in his honour, Phar Lap Raceway, is set to go quiet while Southland will be reduced to two harness tracks, most likely at Invercargill and Winton.
If the proposed calendar is not changed, and there could still be some last minute arguing tonight, New Zealand will have 32 fewer thoroughbred meetings next season.
Many of the track closures align with the Messara report recommendations of August 2018 and while they may not be a surprise, the swiftness with which they are being brought in will shock plenty and even outrage those in areas where racing fans will be left without a local track.
It will also mean some trainers will have to move from training at their local tracks should they wish to continue, and the loss of racing in some regions will inevitably impact on the number of future owners and even punters in those areas.
Key factors in the decisions, which were made after consultation between all three codes and RITA, were the costs of racing at each venue, returns to the industry and owners and the horse population trained in that area.
What happens to many of the tracks slated to have no more meetings is a huge economic question for the industry, with proposed changes to the Racing Act, which could still possibly be passed before the September election, suggesting some tracks could be sold and the proceeds returned to the industry.
The most valuable of those would be Avondale, which could be worth between $150-200 million and would provide a huge boost for racing's financial problems if it can be used for the industry's greater good.
But even if that becomes legally possible under the new Racing Act, Avondale Jockey Club officials have made it quite clear in the past they want none of that and suggestions of legal action to fight it, at least initially, look certain.
In a week where the Government has come to racing's rescue to the tune of $72.5 million the appetite for more talk and consultation appears to be all but over, with RITA declaring they will make changes to improve the industry's bottom line whether they are popular or not.
Covid-19 and the financial chaos it has caused has sped up those changes, many of which might have taken years to implement.
The reality is they are here now and, for better or worse, New Zealand racing will change forever tomorrow.
