Southerners not put off from having a bet

Punter confidence in the south appears to have withstood fallout from race-fixing and drug offending allegations in harness racing.

On and off course betting on all races at the Winton Harness Racing Club meeting on Saturday was up on the corresponding race day last year, president Alister Kyle said.

The early spring race meeting is usually low key with no feature event on the programme.

A concerning factor this year was the possibility of betting being affected from publicity over 10 people nationally being arrested last week in a police investigation into race-fixing and drug offending in harness racing.

Kyle was pleasantly surprised with betting figures on Saturday.

‘‘It was a good day [financially] for the club . . . by race four or five we had good crowd.’’

Kyle said the investigation was discussed by many on course and added the justice system would handle it.

Punters at the Winton race meeting and South City TAB in Invercargill said the allegations put harness racing in a bad light but it wouldn’t deter them from wagering.

Bruce Campbell, an Invercargill punter of 40 years, said the people arrested were innocent until proven guilty.

Waikaka resident Stanley Haywood hoped the investigation wouldn’t put potential owners and racegoers off the sport.