Racegoers rushed to shelter after a freak hailstorm hit New Zealand Cup Day at Riccarton. Photo / Ajay Berry
Riccarton may have weathered the storm on Saturday but the financial fallout is yet to come.
Because the shock hailstorm that wreaked havoc at the New Zealand Cup meeting could result in a 30% reduction in on-course turnover.
Canterbury Jockey Club (CJC) chief executive Tim Mill says while the exact betting figures won’t be available for several days, his on-course tote managers told him to expect a decent hit in to that final number.
“We won’t know for a while but we are thinking on-course turnover could be down by about 30%,” Mills told the Herald.
“And we will also take a hit on food and beverage, with quite a few racegoers leaving after the storm.”
The mid-meeting hailstorm sent punters rushing for cover and turned the whole course white, with Mills admitting that, like many, he initially had fears about the meeting being abandoned after racing was delayed 40 minutes.
“But they were allayed pretty quickly when the jockeys inspected he track,” he explains.
“We had a lot of senior jockeys out there and while it was very unusual to see so much hail, they were adamant it wouldn’t compromise safety.
“As Craig Grylls said to me ‘it is safe to keep racing, it will just be ugly’,” said Mills.
He was encouraged how many punters remained on track even after the storm as temperatures plummeted, and some who did leave even returned – but the financially fallout will be significant.
“We were lucky that being a sold-out event, our customers had already bought their tickets so the crowd was great and when it was sunny for Race 2, the course had amazing energy.
“But nobody could have foreseen what happened next.
“We were a bit unlucky because I was talking to some people who were staying just four kilometres away and they said they only got a tiny bit of what hit us.
“So it wasn’t ideal and we are going to take a hit on turnover and food and beverage sales but considering everything, the rest of the meeting went off very well and we have good horses winning the biggest races.”
The CJC will soon reach out to the connections of 2000 Guineas winner Romanoff as he will get first right of refusal of their slot for the $4 million NZB Kiwi at Ellerslie on March 7.
“Our policy is to offer the slot to the winner of the 2000 Guineas first and then the 1000 Guineas, so we will start making calls about that when we get over the weekend.”
Both Romanoff and New Zealand 1000 Guineas winner Well Written are eligible for the NZB Kiwi, for which horses have to be born in New Zealand or sold at a New Zealand Bloodstock sale, with several other slot holders already chasing Well Written.
While Romanoff’s trainer Pam Gerard can return home to Matamata with the 2000 Guineas quinella to add to her win in the classic last year, she has another special moment waiting for her on Monday.
Last season’s Guineas winner Savaglee returns to her stable today after a long break from racing, having not been seen on race day since finishing second to Feroce in the Australian Guineas at Flemington in March.
He has a myriad of options, including the $1 million Elsdon Park Aotearoa Classic at Ellerslie on Karaka Millions night, before his connections go hunting for the all-important Australian Group 1 win that so cruelly eluded him at Flemington.
“He has had a good grounding of about three months, including being ridden and some water-walker work,” The Oaks Stud boss Rick Williams, who manages Savaglee, said.
“So we think he will be trialling in four or five weeks but it is too early to set a programme for him.
“The Aotearoa Classic could be one target as he will definitely start off here in New Zealand and, all going well, have a three- or four-race campaign, which we would like to include an Australian race, preferably Group 1, if all is going well.”
Savaglee is the $7 second-favourite for the Aotearoa Classic behind last season’s NZB Kiwi winner Damask Rose.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.