Authority chairman rebuts club’s statement

Press, 28 June 1983, Page 22

Authority chairman rebuts club’s statement

The chairman of the New Zealand Racing Authority, Mr J. A. L. Bennett, has announced that parts of a press report published on June 16 purporting to state the authority’s opinion and the authority’s agreement on matters relating to the Geraldine Racing Club and its course were incorrect. On June 13 a sub-commit-tee of the authority met representatives of the Geraldine Racing and Trotting Clubs and discussed two matters — the resiting of amenities as a result of fire damage to the public stand at Orari; and a request by the racing club that the South Island Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes, which had been de-

leted from the list of New Zealand Group Races by the New Zealand Racing Conference sub-committee, be treated as a principal South Island race and receive appropriate New Zealand Racing Authority subsidy. The president of the Geraldine Racing Club, Mr Peter South, had been quoted as saying: “The Authority expressed the opinion that Orari was one of the best grass courses in the country and that the club has a part to play in the second tier of New Zealand racing.” Mr Bennett says that neither of those matters mentioned by the Geraldine Racing Club’s president had been adverted to let alone

discussed at the meeting with the clubs, and that those statements did not represent the authority’s views on the issue concerned. It was also incorrect to say that the New Zealand Racing Authority had “agreed that the South Island Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes should remain,” says Mr Bennett. “The authority does not decide what races a club will or will not stage. That is the prerogative of the club,” says Mr Bennett. “In this case, what the club sought was financial assistance for the race through Stakes Subsidy, not approval of the club staging it.”