Racing is expected to resume on the Hastings racecourse on Thursday, May 21.
Darin Balcombe, the interim chief executive of Hawke’s Bay Racing, said this week New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) has finalised this date, which was a vacant day on this season’s racing calendar.
Balcombe said it will be an industry day, restricted to only six races, but will serve as an important lead up to the resumption of full race days at Hastings in the new racing season, which begins on August 1.
Plans are to hold the May race day and then have no racing on the course in June and July before another meeting is held in late August ahead of the traditional three-day spring carnival in September and October.
With the original running rail at the Hastings racecourse now being used by the Waipukurau Jockey Club, two new rails have had to be purchased for Hastings before racing can resume.
There is a necessity to have two rails erected, one on the inside and one on the outside, as there is now a significant drop down in certain outside areas due to the extra height caused by the re-cambering of three of the bends.
Balcombe said the two Australian-made running rails are being shipped to New Zealand and are expected to arrive early next month.
“Once those rails are erected we will have horses galloping on the course proper in March and April, with a set of jumpouts planned for early April,” Balcombe said.
“Then we will have a set of official trials, or jumpouts, in late April which will be about three weeks out from the planned race day.”
Balcombe added that Liam O’Keefe, the track manager at the Flemington racecourse in Melbourne and the person who has overseen the reconstruction work on the Hastings track, inspected the course on Tuesday and was very happy with the progress made.
“Liam said the track is in very good condition,” Balcombe said.
NZTR deemed the reconstruction work was necessary following the abandonment of the second day of the 2024 Hawke’s Bay Spring carnival, due to a horse slipping in race one, and the track has been closed for racing ever since.
That abandonment and subsequent cessation of racing at Hastings has had a huge financial impact on Hawke’s Bay Racing’s resources.
Club members were told at last week’s Hawke’s Bay Racing annual meeting that, due to practically no income being earned since the cessation of racing, the Club incurred a loss of $1,435,641 for the 2024-25 financial year.
With no racing income, the Club’s future looked bleak but NZTR then stated that Hastings was one of the preferred locations for one of five to six metropolitan racecourses that they were planning for the country.
NZTR then proposed that they would assist the Club to get racing back in Hastings as soon as possible, while looking to create a new venue for the future.
Retiring chairman Richard Riddell said it was exciting that the re-cambering of the present Hastings racetrack, kindly funded by NZTR, has progressed well and will see a resumption of racing there before this winter.
“While it is only a short term fix, it will see us racing again this year and the track is expected to be suitable to hold Group 1 racing (the Spring Carnival) until the Club’s relocation to the Portsmouth Road site in 2029.”
New Hawke’s Bay Racing chairman Fred Coates told members that the first Group 1 race of the new racing season, which is now called the Proisir Plate, has traditionally been run at Hastings but was run at Ellerslie last spring.
He said that his Board will be working on trying to get the Proisir Plate (1400m) back to Hawke’s Bay in the future.
“At this stage we will still have the Group 1 over 1600 metres on the second day of the carnival and the Group 1 over 2040 metres on the third day and we will be pushing to get all three Group 1 races back the following season,” Coates said.
Although the Group 1 race will be missing from the first day of this year’s Hawke’s Bay Spring carnival, the Group 3 Gold Trail Stakes (1200m) and the Listed El Roca-Sir Colin Meads Trophy (1200m) are still expected to be run on this day.
Coates said that, at this stage, Hastings has been allocated only 11 race days for the new racing season but that Hawke’s Bay Racing will be applying to get the 14 days they used to have reinstated.
Ken Browne, who has served as a Board member of Hawke’s Bay Racing Incorporated for 31 years, has been made a Life Member of the Club.
Browne has more than 40 years of experience in racing club administration. He served eight years on the Wairoa Racing Club committee, including time on the judicial panel, before moving south to Hastings.
He was elected to the Napier Park Racing Club committee in 1993 and voted onto the Napier Ward of Hawke’s Bay Racing two years later.
Browne has been a successful thoroughbred breeder and owner for many years and has been a regular attender at Hawke’s Bay race meetings.
He is one of five Board members of Hawke’s Bay Racing who have retired this year, the others being the chairman Richard Riddell, Aayden Clarke, Garth Cowie and Ben Tothill.
Two new Board members, Paul Beamish and Tim Kelleher, were duly elected at last week’s annual meeting.
Waipukurau pair star on their home track
Jockey Kate Hercock and trainer Simon Wilson enjoyed the rare luxury of racing on their home track at Waipukurau last Sunday and dominated the eight race Wairoa Racing Club programme.
Hercock bagged four winners, including kicking home topweight Opawa Jack in the $40,000 Wairoa Cup, while two of her other winners were prepared by Wilson.
With remedial work taking place at both Hastings and Awapuni, the Waipukurau Jockey Club has enjoyed a return to the racing calendar this season and a huge crowd turned out for their November meeting.
With Wairoa’s Te Kupenga racetrack now closed, a large contingent came down from Wairoa for last Sunday’s race meeting and many locals also braved the wet and cold conditions in support of country racing.
Wilson said he was rapt to be back racing at his home track, which he said is great for the local community.
“It’s fantastic,” he said. “It is great for the racing club and community to be back racing here. We have had amazing support from far and wide, and the trainers are supporting us, which is great, bringing horses to jump-outs and supporting the race days. Long me it last.
“We are positive that things are going in the right direction. We have got a great committee that are passionate about racing and the community, which is what it is all about.”
The Waipukurau Jockey Club is now scheduled to hold a third race meeting on the track on Sunday, April 26.
Wilson lined up his entire racing team of two last Sunday for a 100 percent strike-rate, with debutant Concorde taking out the ICIB Brokerweb Three-Year-Old Maiden (1200m) and Plain Sailing breaking through for his first win in the Davmet Maiden (1400m). Both were ridden by in-form jockey Kate Hercock, who lives in Otane and uses the Waipukurau track to train a small team of thoroughbreds.
Wilson purchased Concorde from the Gavelhouse auction site and races the Contributer three-year-old filly in partnership with Taranaki’s Paul Mitchell.
“I’ve always liked the Contributers and went to the yearling sales last year to try and buy one. I missed out there but I was able to buy this one on Gavelhouse instead,” Wilson said.
Concorde was placed in two barrier trials in October last year but Wilson then put her aside for a couple of months to let her strengthen.
“She was a weak filly who has just taken time,” he said.
Hercock got Concorde to settle nicely in fifth place in the seven horse field last Sunday before sending her forward coming to the home turn.
She was the widest runner turning into the home straight but still had plenty in reserve and powered down centre track to win by a length.
“She has got a lot of speed and I was happy that she relaxed and finished off the race nicely, aided by a good ride from Kate Hercock,” Wilson said.
Plain Sailing was sent out a $2 favourite for his 1400m event, after having recorded a second and a third from his previous four starts.
Hercock bounced him out well from the barrier and soon had trailing the leader, on the fence. She moved up to challenge the pacemakers on the home turn and Plain Sailing took a clear lead soon after and was always in command after that, winning by 1-3/4 lengths.
Wilson bought Plain Sailing for $5000 at the 2022 Karaka weanling sales and races the now four-year-old with his wife Claire.
He added that the horse has been a slow maturer which is why he has only had five starts.
“I gave him a couple of starts early on but he was a bit weak then and has just needed time,” Wilson said.
Although Concorde and Plain Sailing are the only two horses Wilson has racing at the moment, he also has another four youngsters coming on.
Kate Hercock’s other two wins at Waipukurau last Sunday were aboard Opawa Jack in the Wairoa Cup (2100m) and Beyond Me in a 1600m maiden.
The four victories took her tally for the season to 34. She then kicked home another treble of winners at Riccarton on Wednesday to go to 37 and is in the top 10 on this season’s jockeys’ premiership.