Privileges curtailed, entrance fees higher

Press, 4 July 1978, Page 21

Privileges curtailed, entrance fees higher

By

W. R. CARSTON

Members’ privileges will i be slightly curtailed and patirons will have to pay a $2 .entrance fee to Addington : Raceway during the Benson! and Hedges Inter-Dominion .Championships series next; [March. This was announced: 1 last evening at the annual ! .meeting of the New Zealand; Metropolitan Trotting Club; iby the president. Mr Eugene! ! McDermott. When presenting his re-I port to members Mr McDer-. mott said that when tickets' and badges for the ensuing; season were issued no en-l trance tickets, stand badges! or car passes for the InterDominion would be enclosed. These would be forwarded tomembers at a later date, to- i gether with the latest infor-i mation concerning the; series. "Instead of three admission and three members’ badges as normally issued only two of each would be issued for the four meetings of the Championships,” he' said. “I know that you will 1

agree that with the influx of visitors from throughout Australia and New Zealand'; your committee has no op-i lion but to take this step.' Mr McDermott sard that: I the club had had very many 'requests from tour party, operators and other Individ-: iuals from throughout Aus-i [tralia and New Zealand for' (stand accommodation and iti (had been decided to sell in (advance a limited area atj (the back of the public standi Ito these visitors or other (patrons. He also said that it was', (the committee’s intention to! (erect temporary stand ac- ' commodation in the Smarts! Mound area and. perhaps/ also in the area adjacent to ; (the Showgrounds if that was ' 'considered to be warranted.' [Some of those areas would: (also be presold. ii Mr McDermott said that | • he was aware that there ! may be some criticism of the decision to charge $2 ad- ■ mission. But he reminded i] members and other patrons/ I that the club was offering 1 'record stakes and he said he|i

was confident tha: given adequate Australian representation the racing offered would be the finest ever witnessed anywhere in the world. Referring to stakes for the .series he pointed out that the SI 25,000 Benson and (Hedges Pacing Final was the richest stake ever offered (for any race in New Zealand' and the $30,000 Air New (Zealand Trotters’ ChampionI ship Final was again currently the greatest prize: ever contested by trotters in; Australia or New Zealand. Mr McDermott said that in Sydney last week the Inter-Dominion Council had formally passed the pro-: gramme for the Champion-, ship events and that that programme was only slightly changed from the one first proposed during: the Inter-Dominion series in; Melbourne in March. One; major change was that the; whole series had been de-1 layed one week to avoid a clash with the Wellington ( Racing Clubs centennial: meeting.