Rangiora Submission
The following is the submission from the Trainers and Drivers Association in support of the retention of the Rangiora Raceway. This was sent prior to the recent fire in the area.
“It is with some concern that the Association understands that the future of the Rangiora Racecourse may be under threat.
Given that everyone in the Industry is striving to cut costs, to close a facility that holds upwards of 40 trial meetings, and ten race meetings staged by the Rangiora Club per season, (plus hosting other Clubs), seems short-sighted to say the least, when upwards of 60% of the horses trained in Canterbury are domiciled North of Christchurch.
Should Rangiora be closed, it would mean that all those horses would have to travel around twice as far to Ashburton to educate and/or qualify their horses, an added and unwelcome expense to owners, and longer time spans for trainers to be away from their stables. In addition, when there over 100 horses at some of the Rangiora trial meetings in the Summer months, to have them race at Ashburton as well, would mean a meeting could run for many extra hours. Also, some trainers are reluctant to race horses at Ashburton, suggesting that is harder on them, given the times they run there.”
There is also the issue of the many horses trained on the beach at Woodend. Obviously, no-one wants an accident to happen there, but if it did and the authorities stepped in to prevent that re-occurring, it would be unfortunate, but without a suitable nearby facility, it would be catastrophic.
While the Association is not privy to all of the financial issues surrounding the co-ownership of Racecourse, we would ask that every effort be made to solve these, and ensure that the facility remains open and operational.”
Pete Cook