Central Districts get vote of confidence from racing bosses

NZ Herald

21-05-2025

Things got worse on Anzac Day when the Awapuni relaunch lasted one race before that meeting was called off for the usual reason: a slippery surface making racing unsafe.
Add to that long-term doubts about the sustainability of the remaining Trentham grandstand and Ōtaki losing its only Group 1 to Ellerslie and good news has been hard to come by in the lower half of the North Island.
But help, or at least the promise of help, is on the way.
New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing have backed the new Awapuni track by scheduling two Group 1s to be run there in the spring, if the track can come up to scratch by then.
That IF has to be in capital letters as NZTR chief executive Matt Ballesty has made it clear the track must prove itself first and any sign of trouble that threatens the Group 1s will see an alternate venue found.
The two races are the Arrowfield Stud Plate and the Livamol, traditionally the second and third legs of the Hawke's Bay Triple Crown.
With Hastings out of play for the spring (more on that soon) the three Group 1s it usually holds will be split between Ellerslie for the first, the Tarzino Trophy, with the next two legs tentatively at Awapuni.
'Subject to a visit from track expert Liam O'Keefe in early June we intend to run the two Group 1s in that region,' Ballesty told the Herald.
'However, if the track isn't exactly where it needs to be and more time is needed we won't rush and we will look at other options.
'NZTR understands all participants, especially trainers, need to know in advance where the races are to be held.'
While the move is hardly the most boisterous vote of confidence in Awapuni being up and running by spring, NZTR are bringing in the big guns in Flemington track man O'Keefe, who helped Ellerslie smooth out their problems when they launched their StrathAyr track last year.
Like Ellerslie, one of the key Awapuni issues has been compaction of the top layer, making it prone to becoming slippery, so it will need constant verti-draining to break up that level and create more organic matter, ultimately providing a more natural surface.
But one of Awapuni's issues is rocks underneath the surface which limits the use of certain verti-draining machines.
There will be weekly management meetings between the local administration body RACE, NZTR, O'Keefe and fellow track expert Callum Brown.
If that all goes well racing is scheduled to return to the turf track in August with Ballesty saying, 'a safe return to racing is our number one priority'.
So while nothing is certain in the increasingly weird world of race track management, NZTR are at least giving Awapuni and those who run it the chance to prove themselves.
The second piece of good news for the region came in Hastings last night when Ballesty announced racing will remain at the current track with recambering work to start soon.
The Hastings track has been dogged by problems in recent years, admittedly not helped by erratic spring weather, but one of its biggest issues has been the camber on the bend out of the straight.
There has been debate about whether it is better to fix the current track or look to build a new track in the Hastings region, but Ballesty answered that question when addressing club members last night.
'We will start work on correcting the camber on the track and all going well hope to have it ready for racing in spring 2026,' he said.
That is a far quicker, and cheaper, option than moving the track in what is a famous racing region and all going well Awapuni and Hastings could be racing, on safer surfaces, in the New Year.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald's Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world's biggest horse racing carnivals.