Methven and Ashburton increase stakes

Press, 17 August 1983, Page 28

Methven and Ashburton increase stakes

By

G. K. YULE

Moderate but welcome increases in stakes have been approved by the Methven and Ashburton clubs for their spring meetings to be run on September 24 and October 1 respectively. The Banks Peninsula club completes the popular three-meeting country circuit, which follows five meetings at Addington Raceway in the next four weeks. The club will actually be contributing a lesser sum towards stakes for its spring meeting at Motukarara on October 8 than it did 12 months ago, even though a few minor increases have been applied. All clubs will this season receive $5O more from the Racing Authority for each race catering for classes from CO to C 3. ? The Methven club is confident that the refurbishing of the public grandstand will be completed in time for the spring meeting when the feature event will be the Methven Cup. Its stake has been increased by $2OO to $5OOO and it will be run over 3200 m for horses assessed at C 6 and faster.

Maiden horses will race for $2150 at Methven, an inctease of $l5O, while the stakes for Cl, C2 and C 3 horses have gone up by $2OO to $2400, $2600 and $2BOO respectively. An increase of $2OO has also been applied to the T. S. Harrison Stakes, which this year will be worth $2900, while the Four-year-old Stakes will be worth $2750, an increase of $l5O. The Ashburton club did not give consideration to using the mobile barrier for any of its races at its spring meeting even though the track lends itself to such a proposition. The stake for the Ashburton Flying Stakes remains unchanged at $7OOO and it will be run under invitation conditions over 2400 m. The biggest increase at Ashburton has been $5OO to the 3200 m race for C 6 and faster horses. This event will now be worth $5OOO, placing it on a par with the big race at Methven a week earlier. Stakes for races for maiden and Cl horses at Ashburton have been increased by $lOO to $2200,

while C2 horses will race for $2850, an increase of $l5O. Horses on C 3 and C 4 will race for $3200 and $3BOO, an increase of $2OO in each case. The only increases at Motukarara will involve Cl pacers, which will now race for $3OOO, an increase of $lOO. The stakes subsidy boost of $5O has been added to races for C2 and C 3 horses, which will now be worth $3200 and $3500. The Banks Peninsula stakes for all slow classes are still well in advance of those paid by other country clubs in Canterbury. Even though a profit of more than $19,000 was made on its operations last season, officials at Motukarara feel they could be in a loss situation for the coming 12 months. The club has for the last few seasons run an extremely successful meeting following on that usually run on Boxing Day by the Ashburton club. Last December more than 10,600 adults packed the course. This year when there will be five Saturdays in December, the Trotting Conference

shifted Banks Peninsula back to December 24 instead of December 27 or 28 as were sought. The conference asserts that Banks Peninsula officials agreed to a Saturday before Christmas when the permit was originally allocated. Although Banks Peninsula sought December 27, the day after the Ashburton meeting, it later sought December 28, the day before the Reefton annual meeting. Reefton objected and this was sustained. While some problems exist for Banks Peninsula when it races on the day after Ashburton, the club might have been better to have fought harder for that date rather than two days after the Mid-Canterbury meeting, which could have an adverse effect on the Reefton meeting, one of the most popular on the West Coast and one depending so greatly on slow-class horses from the Canterbury area. Also participation by so many prominent horsemen usually involved at Motukarara, plays a big part in the success of Reefton.