"We have the new date in January, which is fantastic. For years, we have had to go right through summer without racing, which didn't really make sense," Field said yesterday.
"The jumping day, which included the return of the Wanganui Steeplechase on May 8, has been moved to August, so in effect we could see the steeplechase run twice in the one year as a one-off and that's after a nearly 20-year absence. The August date is likely to increase numbers in the jumping races and it's a lead-up to the Great Northern Steeplechase and other major jumping races.
"The third notable change is the May 8 date being put back to April 23. What the new calendar reveals is that, combined with the trot meeting here, we will be racing once a month and it's about time this track was recognised as a top venue. I guess it's also recognition that both us and the greyhound club are doing a good job ..."
Greyhound racing club manager Bridget Belsham was delighted Hatrick Raceway was given further recognition and a great racing venue with the new dates.
"We have received three Saturday nights in the new calendar, which is awesome, and Melbourne Cup night in November. That gives us a huge chance to arrange an incredibly entertaining afternoon of celebrations taking in the Melbourne Cup and then starting our racing programme around 6pm. It's going to be a very busy, but productive season and has to be great for Wanganui as a whole," Belsham said.
The extra dates have bucked the national trend at a time when the racing board has reduced the number of meetings.
A total of 26 meetings and 159 races have been removed from the thoroughbred racing calendar. The majority of the meetings have been removed from Mondays, with the only thoroughbred racing on this day of the week now taking place on statutory holidays and provincial anniversaries.
It's hoped that a similar number of horse starts can be achieved across the smaller number of races, thereby increasing the average field size. Harness Racing has taken a similar approach, reducing by one race meeting and 107 races.
The greyhound racing calendar maintains two Tuesday meetings to assist the industry with provision of sufficient racing early in the week. Additionally, there are eight Saturday evening greyhound meetings planned in the summer months.
The 2014/15 calendar, comprising 1062 meetings and 10,913 races across the three racing codes, has been devised to better meet the industry's objectives of optimising domestic and international betting performance.
Most traditional race dates for 2014/15 are unchanged.
