Category: Meeting Previews

Following a track inspection this morning it’s been decided that Easter Monday’s meeting at Motukarara will now go ahead at Addington. “We had no option but to make the call, there has been a decent amount of rain in Canterbury already with a lot more forecast,” says Harness Racing New Zealand’s Head of Racing and Wagering, Matthew Peden. Today representatives from HRNZ, the Banks Peninsula Trotting Club and a stipendiary steward all inspected the grass track at Motukarara. “The track is in reasonable order considering how much rain we’ve had…

By Michael Guerin Our best driver is lamenting not being able to be in two places at once today. Blair Orange has had to forgo his drives at Alexandra Park tonight after that meeting was postponed on Thursday because of the Auckland weather, with Orange having flown to Auckland by the time the announcement was made.  He will instead drive at the Addington day meeting today. “There isn’t much you can do about Mother Nature so I went up to Auckland and came back and will drive at Addington on…

By Michael Guerin The two-day delay to tonight’s Alexandra Park meeting has only brought about only minor changes to the major races. Namely: Arafura out of the Northern Oaks Prelude while Got The Chocolates comes back into the Northern Derby Prelude. The meeting was to have been staged on Thursday night but was postponed because of high winds and constant rain in Auckland, both of which were gone by early Friday. So the meeting moves to tonight, overlapping with the Addington day fixture, with leading driver Blair Orange driving at…

OnTrack, racing’s mental wellbeing programme, is seeking 2–3 Board Members. These are paid positions and the remuneration is $12K for Directors and $18K for the Chair. If you are interested in applying, please send your CV and Cover Letter to apply@amytea.co.nz before the closing date of 27 April 2025. To find out more click here 

By Michael Guerin The Alexandra Park meeting postponed on Thursday because of shocking weather in Auckland will move to Saturday, but with one race less. The meeting is a crucial lead-up to next Friday’s five Group-1 race meeting at the same venue, with Thursday’s canned meeting scheduled to hold both the Oaks and Derby Preludes. But Cyclone Tam has brought heavy rainfall and strong winds and left thousands of homes in the upper North Island without power. Ferries have also been cancelled and many domestic flights in and out of…

HRNZ is hitting the road in late April-early May. It will host roadshows from Invercargill to Auckland to explain the latest initiatives by the Utilisation Reference Group (URG) that have been endorsed by the HRNZ Board. Among the topics that will be addressed are : The Conduct of Race MeetingsHandicapping and Programming of RacesThe Rating SystemScratchingsOperating of the National BureauAmendments to Claiming Races. The schedule for the Roadshows is : Invercargill, 1 pm, Monday April 28 – RacecourseOamaru, 2pm, Tuesday April 29 – Racecourse, after the trialsTimaru, 11am, Wednesday 30…