{"id":395742,"date":"2025-09-03T23:11:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T23:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/395742\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T23:11:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T23:11:28","slug":"racecourse-in-flaxmere-horses-slip-sparks-proposal-for-a-new-home-for-hawkes-bay-racing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/395742\/","title":{"rendered":"Racecourse in Flaxmere? Horse\u2019s slip sparks proposal for a new home for Hawke\u2019s Bay racing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first is \u201crestoration\u201d of racing in Hastings, the second \u201cadvancing plans\u201d for relocation to a greenfield site at Flaxmere in the longer term, as part of a national racing infrastructure strategy that recognises Hawke\u2019s Bay as a key regional centre for the sport of kings.<\/p>\n

While there have been issues of ageing buildings on racecourses nationally for many years, urgency in Hawke\u2019s Bay was sparked by the abandonment of the second day of last year\u2019s Spring Carnival after just one race last September.<\/p>\n

Inspections after a horse slipped resulted in major races at the rest of the three-day carnival, and other scheduled meetings, being run on other courses, pending safety improvements<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In May it was announced that part of the course would be recambered to enable racing again in time for the Spring Carnival in 2026, and that the Waipukurau racecourse would be recommissioned for three days\u2019 racing in the interim<\/a>, the first on November 16, and including the Hawke\u2019s Bay Cup in April.<\/p>\n

The groups say the proposal is to develop a new, purpose-built racing and training facility envisioned as a modern metropolitan venue, hosting premier race meetings, supporting year-round training, and providing wider event and tourism benefits.<\/p>\n

Members were told bare land off Portsmouth Rd has been earmarked, subject to funding confirmation and Resource Management Act approvals, including mana whenua consultation. A vote is required once funding is confirmed before timelines can be considered.<\/p>\n

\"JockeysJockeys and officials in a track inspection which resulted in abandonment on the second day of the 2024 Hawke’s Bay Spring Racing Carnival after just one race on September 28 last year. Photo \/ Peter Rubery, Race Images<\/p>\n

NZTR chief executive officer Matt Ballesty said Hawke\u2019s Bay remained a vital part of New Zealand\u2019s racing and is an important focus of the organisation\u2019s long-term strategy. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur vision is to build sustainable, world-class racing infrastructure across the country, and Hawke\u2019s Bay has a key role to play in that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Richard Riddell, who became chair of HBR late last year, said the forum was about opening the conversation with members as part of the decision-making process.<\/p>\n

The club and NZTR said redevelopment proposals would deliver benefits extending well beyond the racing industry, which has been said to support as many as 2000 jobs in Hawke\u2019s Bay. <\/p>\n

Any long-term redevelopment of the current racecourse site could only happen once the new facilities are ready for racing, at which land could be released.<\/p>\n

It would be with the potential for much-needed housing and other urban projects \u201cin the heart of Hastings\u201d, the groups said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis aligns with wider community priorities, with local government and Council already progressing for new housing initiatives in the area,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the first of what would have been the 2025 Spring Carnival\u2019s Triple Crown races will be raced on Saturday as the $400,000, 1400-metre Proisir Plate at Auckland\u2019s Ellerslie track on Saturday.<\/p>\n

It was in recent years in Hastings known as the Tarzino Trophy, but was originally the Hawke\u2019s Bay Challenge Stakes.<\/p>\n

Doug Laing has been a reporter for 52 years, more than 40 of them in Hawke\u2019s Bay, at the Central Hawke\u2019s Bay Press, the Napier Daily Telegraph and Hawke\u2019s Bay Today. He has covered most aspects of general news and sport.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first is \u201crestoration\u201d of racing in Hastings, the second \u201cadvancing plans\u201d for relocation to a greenfield site…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[136774,48883,9354,14381,61836,12495,136773,3576,123087,9353,136776,1444,9348,21031,256,38388,14366,9641,27864,22014,1071,10538,26343,61299,79,16,15,136775],"class_list":{"0":"post-395742","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-136774","9":"tag-about","10":"tag-bay","11":"tag-could","12":"tag-course","13":"tag-development","14":"tag-flaxmere","15":"tag-for","16":"tag-hastings","17":"tag-hawkes","18":"tag-hectares","19":"tag-home","20":"tag-horse","21":"tag-horses","22":"tag-in","23":"tag-million","24":"tag-move","25":"tag-new","26":"tag-proposal","27":"tag-racecourse","28":"tag-racing","29":"tag-residential","30":"tag-slip","31":"tag-sparks","32":"tag-sports","33":"tag-uk","34":"tag-united-kingdom","35":"tag-unlocking"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115142897521461798","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}