Trial Delays and Easter Racing
A few months ago, a plea to trainers to get their act together and have horses ready to go on time on trial days seemed to have a positive effect. However, old habits seem to have seeped back and apparently delays are a regular occurrence, particularly at Rangiora. Often these days are long enough, without unnecessarily delays, so co-operation would be appreciated.
Once again, we were faced with the dumb scenario where horse racing is not permitted on two days of the recent public holiday weekend, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
It is totally absurd that our own TAB is operating on Easter Sunday, taking bets on racing all around the World including Australia, yet horse racing in this Country is not permitted. In fact, I see that there is now harness racing on Good Friday across the Tasman with three meetings, and four meetings on Sunday. Fitting meetings into the current available dates is a nightmare, and yet on at least one ideal day, when people are available to go racing, it’s not allowed.
Apparently, there is a reluctance among politicians to give the green light to the racing industry to operate on the day, because it would encourage retailers to use that as an excuse for them to open on Easter Sunday also. Maybe our leaders should note that professional rugby (which you can bet on) happens on Good Friday – so rugby players and administrators can ply their trade on the ‘sacred’ days but not the racing equivalent. Hypocrisy?
Let’s move into the modern day with this one, and sooner rather than later.
Pete Cook