Canterbury fights to save racing

The survival of harness racing in Canterbury could be decided today when a Christchurch City Council regulatory and planning committee meets to consider Addington Raceway's application for 18 gaming machines.

As the employer of more than 5000 people in Canterbury, harness racing is at its strongest in the central South Island region, pouring millions of dollars into the economy.

But as the New Zealand Trotting Club tries to match stakes with Alexandra Park in Auckland, which already has 18 gaming machines installed, things are becoming difficult. Many leading trainers are now looking at setting up in Auckland in the future.

Addington Raceway chief executive Shane Gloury said a positive outcome is very important today.

"For the future of the proud Canterbury harness racing community a good outcome is paramount," Gloury said.

"We need to be able to bridge that gap between us and Auckland. Horses can race up there for $15,000 at the moment, thanks to their added income from their gaming machines and restaurants. Down here we are racing for $7000."

Gloury said while it was certainly disheartening to hear of trainers and owners considering the possibility of setting up in Auckland, it was something that he could understand.

"It's not something that is going to happen overnight, but slowly over the next five or so years. I can see some of our real big-name trainers relocating if things don't change, and you can't blame them or their owners for that," he said.

"For instance, if say Mark Purdon and Grant Payne, Cran Dalgety, Tim Butt and Mark Jones were to all set up stables in Auckland there would be nearly 400-odd horses gone as well as a number of jobs and incomes."

Leading Canterbury driver and trainer Mark Jones, who will be at today's meeting, gave his full support to the application and said that it won't be just the harness racing industry that will suffer if trainers begin to move to the North Island.

"It goes right back to the farmer who supplies feed to the trainers," he said.

"But what it is going to do to the owners is the worst. Unfortunately costs are going up and, significantly, I am usually pretty lucky in the fact that I can rely on my driving to support myself. That has meant that unlike many other trainers around I have been able to afford to keep my training fees at a pretty good price.

"But it has come to the point where I have had to raise them, but the owners aren't getting what they deserve. They have to go and race around at New Zealand's premier harness racing track for bad stakes when they could be in the North Island racing for almost double what they can get down here."

While relocating his stable wasn't something that he wanted to do, having been born and bred in Canterbury from a harness racing family, Jones said it was now something he was having to think about it.

"As a trainer you have to do your best for your owners, and for me if that means that I will have to race teams in Auckland or even move up there, then it's something I will have to do," he said.

"My major owner, Peter Chambers, has spent a lot of money this year and is looking at getting into sponsorship in a big way, but if his horses are predominantly racing in the North Island he isn't going to want to be a sponsor down here, so there is another loss for Canterbury."

New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club representatives have said that $143 million worth of economic activity could be at stake for Canterbury should the 18 machines that they have applied for be denied.

- © Fairfax NZ News