Abandonments in winter because of heavy rain are sometimes unavoidable and they raise the question of whether the three all-weather tracks around the country will ultimately be used for Saturday racing instead of solely “industry days” mid-week.
What is much harder for owners, trainers and jockeys to stomach are summer abandonments often caused by patchy or insufficient irrigation, which sees firm tracks become slippery, the most dangerous of conditions for horses and jockeys.
That was the case again at Awapuni on Saturday and not only has the club lost the rights to host its next two scheduled meetings but they will not be paid their meeting fee.
Clubs get the fee to cover raceday expenses, with NZTR paying stakes to owners, trainers and jockeys.
NZTR chief executive Bruce Sharrock said on racing television show Weigh In on Monday that RACE, the organisation responsible for racing at Awapuni, won’t get that fee for Saturday’s failed meeting.
He also revealed both RACE and the Canterbury Jockey Club, who were forced to postpone their mammoth NZ Cup Day meeting on November 12 because of slippery conditions, will be docked some of their meeting payments for that disastrous weekend.
“While we are all in this together as an industry there has to be accountability,” Sharrock said.
“What has been going on is incredibly frustrating for the entire industry, both us and the stake holders.
“So we can’t and won’t be keeping paying the raceday fees to clubs who fail to meet their obligations if that comes about through unsatisfactory preparation.”
The meetings which were to have been held at Awapuni this Saturday and on Boxing Day will be transferred, the Manawatu Cup meeting for this Saturday heading to Trentham.
The group 3 Eulogy Stakes, which was to have been run at Saturday’s abandoned meeting, will instead move to Te Rapa this Saturday, with more of the potential starters being from the mid to northern half of the North Island.
NZTR has also released their report into the NZ Cup day postponement, which saw the meeting still held two days later but with an enormously reduced crowd and the CJC offering to pay refunds to those who did attend on Cup Day, their biggest meeting of the year.
The report suggested irregular irrigation infiltration and the longer grass had contributed to the slippery patch that caused the abandonment as well as a generally inconsistent racing surface which saw one of New Zealand’s most popular and profitable meetings called off.
“Given these various factors it is reasonable to conclude that the combination of dry patches, dense matted growth on the surface and localized low infiltration rates could produce slippery patches,” states the report.
" A certain amount of rain or irrigation was applied to the track prior to the race day
“That combination would result in excess moisture in the surface layer creating a thin layer of soft, slippery soil above harder, drier soil beneath.
“It is expected that the programme in Cup week complicates things because racing on Saturday, Wednesday and Saturday limits the windows when irrigation can be applied and most likely does not allow ideal amounts and timing of irrigation to be applied.
“It was identified that the turf was growing horizontally along the surface of the track with stem length of 300mm. In areas where this grass mat was very dense it created a slippery layer underneath.”
Like Awapuni, Riccarton has had and will again have some meetings transferred or moved to its synthetic track so it can undergo a track renovation.
“Riccarton is currently undergoing a full turf renovation with all grass being removed down to 30mm, scarifying, sub-soiling and verti-draining,” NZTR’s report confirms.
Sharrock also confirmed NZTR and the harness and greyhound codes have asked the TAB for more detail around the funding shortfall with TAB chief executive Mike Tod set to meet with them next week.
