Racing industry left reeling after four meetings abandoned

Meetings were cancelled this weekend due to rain. Photo / Getty

The racing industry and punters have been left reeling by the abandonment of four race meetings over the long weekend that has thoroughbred bosses asking for explanations.

Three thoroughbred meetings were abandoned while Sunday's Hāwera harness racing meeting was also lost because of torrential rain.

Nobody could be blamed for the Tauherenikau and Hāwera meetings being called off, with both abandonments due to torrential rain. But those affected by the abandonment of the New Plymouth meeting on Saturday after just one race and Tauranga on Sunday before racing began, both because of slippery tracks, will not be quite so forgiving.

The Taranaki meeting was their biggest of the year with three black-type races but was called off quickly after Madam Sass slipped on the home bend in race 1 and dislodged Bridget Grylls, with neither injured.

The track had been rated a dead 5 in the morning before heavy rain fell and that rating would usually be enough to see any new rainfall absorbed into the track, rather than sitting on top and making the track slippery.

New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing chief executive Bernard Saundry was frustrated by the abandonment and will seek reports from the track manager and stewards to ascertain what happened.

The Tauranga abandonment was even more concerning as jockeys and trainers spoken to by the Herald suggested the track was too firm on the bends but better in the straight.

That inconsistency became a far bigger problem when rain arrived and the firm parts of the track were deemed too slippery to ride on.

"We want to get to the bottom of what happened at these two other meetings," says Saundry.

"We will ask stewards and the clubs for reports on what happened and what we can do when faced with similar forecasts in the future to stop this happening again."

The loss of a major Saturday meeting, two Sundays and a Monday public holiday meeting will hurt the industry's bottom line and while the Hāwera harness meeting is unlikely to be rescheduled, NZTR have moved to fill some of the gaps left by their triple abandonment.

The $85,000 Taranaki Cup moves to the Awapuni meeting on Friday, the $80,000 Juvenile Classic to Te Rapa's already massive meeting on Saturday and the $60,000 Oaks Trial which would have been run over the weekend stays at New Plymouth but on their February 18 date.

Three of the races scheduled for Tauranga have been added to the Ruakaka programme on Wednesday while the majority of horses who were down to race at Tauherenikau on Monday will get the chance to race at a new meeting at Hastings on Thursday.