IN Announcement
NEWS | Te Aroha track positively received at trials
Racing Te Aroha saw trials successfully completed today, Wednesday 23 October, ahead of the Club’s scheduled return to racing next week.
October 23, 2024

Racing Te Aroha (TA) saw trials successfully completed today, Wednesday 23 October, ahead of the Club’s scheduled return to racing next week.

Today saw nine trials take place from 10.30am today with 59 horses taking to the Te Aroha track.  In attendance were senior jockeys Opie Bosson, Joe Doyle, Sam Weatherley and Masa Hashizume.   

Joe Doyle who rode in a number of trials commented that the track was performing well. 

“It rode perfect today.  There’s loads of grass on it where we are racing.  It’s seems to be holding up perfectly. If the weather holds, I don’t see there being any problems.  It rode really, really nice today.”

That sentiment was echoed by trainer Graham Richardson who was also in attendance. 

“I’m really pleased with it and it’s so nice to be back.  It seems nice and safe and it looks great.  I’m looking forward to racing on the 30th.”

Racing Te Aroha board member, George Simon, was oncourse and was pleased with how the track presented and performed. 

“After the trials that took place today I spoke to a number of senior jockeys who were very complimentary of how the track was presented.  

“They said it rode well, had a little give and was well grassed. 

“From my perspective, it looked good and with the positive feedback received, it augurs well going forward.”

The Club looks to resume racing at the venue on Wednesday, 30 October after four months of closure due to concerns with the track.  The track underwent a two year period of renovation and resumed racing in November 2023.  It was then closed from June 2024 for the Club to complete further remedial work. 

Racing Te Aroha track manager, Ryan Gartner, was heartened by the good feedback today and feels the track has made real progress since June. 

“Over the course of the renovation project we have completed extensive work on the track including sub soiling, air injection to a depth of 500mm and verti-draining with a variety of tines amongst other things,” comments Gartner. 

“We undersowed the track and applied fungicide multiple times as well, including hand seeding and undersowing the weak areas almost daily.

“I’m pleased to see the jockeys comments reflect the hard work that has been put in and we will continue to put the effort in to produce a quality surface for the industry.”

George Simon comments that next week’s return feels like a long time coming but the Club wanted to make sure they were able to present a surface that would go the distance this season. 

“Our return has been more delayed than we would have liked but we needed that additional time to go forward with confidence and be able to maintain our scheduled programme.”

“The track will undergo further work in March 2025 after a period of racing.”

The final ‘go ahead’ will be given in the coming days after consultation between the Club,  New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing and the Racing Integrity Board.

However, Stipendiary Steward, Brady Jones, said “the feedback from the senior jockeys was positive and I see no reason not to proceed next week” which bodes well for the coming days confirmation. 

All going well, Racing Te Aroha anticipates returning to racing on Wednesday, 30 October with Donaghys Raceday. 

 

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To view a number of interviews with Track Manager, Ryan Gartner, and senior jockeys, please visit our Facebook page here.