Objection by club not recognised

Press, 13 August 1980, Page 22

Objection by club not recognised

By

G. K. YULE

An objection by the Ashburton Trotting Club against approval of an invitation race to be run by the Gore Trotting Club on Saturday, September 27, has been denied by the programme committee of the Trot-s ting Conference.

The Gore meeting, a new one in September, will be run on the same day as the traditional Ashburton Flying Stakes, also an invitation race. - \ The committee of the Ashburton club felt that there were insufficient horses to provide sizeable fields for both races. Also, the Ashburton race has often attracted a strong southern entry, which will no doubt be minimal this year now that the Gore race will proceed.

The race at Gore has been named the Quadroon Stakes after the 1915 winner of the Gore Cup. It will carry a stake of $5OOO and will be run under invitation conditions from a standing start. One week later the In-

vercargill club will run a mobile start race over 2200 m for a stake of $5OOO. Both races will have an open class front with C 8 and C 9 horses eligible. The same limit will apply to the Ashburton Flying Stakes, which will, as usual, will be run over 2400 m and provide a racing opportunity for horses being fitted for the $lOO,OOO New Zealand Cup at Addington Raceway on Tuesday, November 11. The Ashburton club has increased the stake for its feature race from $5OOO to $6OOO. Other stakes on September

27 . will be on a par with those paid at the Club’s winter meeting last season, said the secretary, Mr TrevOr Robertson. “The club increased all of its stakes during the 1979-80 season and these will be unchanged for

the spring meeting at least,"’ he said. . The Ashburton club experienced one of its least successful seasons with a; loss of. some $30,000. The; bulk of this amount was made up of increases in stakes and while interest on the newgrandstand was also a major item.

The Methven club, which ; races on September 20, has" increased stakes for its spring meeting by some 15 per cent. All races will benefit, said. Mr Robertson. The Methven Cup, with a C 6 limit, will worth $4OOO this season, against $3775, while the T.S. Harrison Stakes, for three-year-olds, will carry a stake of $2500, against $2025.

Stakes for slow-class races at both Ashburton and Methven will be similar.