Hopes for synthetic track by next winter
THOROUGHBRED racing boss Bernard Saundry hopes New Zealand will have its first allweather galloping track by next winter.
Racing Minister Winston Peters announced in Invercargill recently there would be three synthetic tracks built, most likely in Waikato, Manawatu and Canterbury.
Saundry, chief executive of New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR), told
Zealand
Herald his organisation hoped the first such track would be operational in less than a year’s time.
‘‘Our hope is that we could have at least one track available in time for the start of next winter. This will still take a considerable amount of work behind the scenes and commitment from each of the relevant parties to get this achieved.’’
Peters said the tracks would be partly funded by the provincial growth fund and partly by the racing industry.
Saundry agreed that the industry, including the New Zealand Racing Board (NZRB), should stump up money for the tracks, but did not elaborate on how they could do that.
‘‘The proposals we have already received from racing clubs in relation to synthetic surfaces acknowledge that clubs, NZTR and the NZRB should contribute.’’
Synthetic tracks would modernise the New Zealand industry, Saundry said.
‘‘The racing world has moved on and we need to catch up. We are competing for punters’ eyeballs with countries that can deliver consistent and reliable racing on synthetic tracks.
‘‘We need synthetic tracks for training and trialling all year round and for racing during the winter.”