Festival a popular day out

The $1 million grandstand at Hatrick Raceway proved well worth the investment when the Wanganui Greyhound Racing Club hosted a Summer Festival of Racing meeting yesterday.

The summer festival concept is a New Zealand Racing Board initiative designed to promote all codes of racing to the general public showing how fun and exciting an activity a day at the races can be.

The focus is heavily on the family unit and the kids are far from forgotten with the board providing a wide range of activities to entertain the youngsters.

Wanganui Greyhound Club president Kevin Benson said the relatively new grandstand had proved a top investment.

"Even before this summer festival meeting we have been getting great support from the Wanganui community, but today it was special.

"The grandstand made it so much easier to cater for the large crowd and we really appreciate the support," Benson said yesterday.

Club racing manager Bridget Belsham agreed saying the extra people attending a Wednesday meeting appeared to enjoy the racing, activities and the facilities.

"The Racing Board put on a heap of activities for the kids and pretty much acted as babysitters allowing the parents to enjoy a day at the races. We were also really fortunate with the weather given what happened earlier in the week," Belsham said.