Trotting meeting

Press, 17 January 1986, Page 14

Trotting meeting

Sir,—l have been a regular supporter of the Canterbury Park Trotting Club’s new year meeting, and for the third year in a row there have been insufficient totalisator windows in operation. Hold-ups in queues before each and every race on a very warm evening were very tiring, especially for older people, and could have been eliminated if some of the windows of the main totalisator had been opened. The club had obviously gone to a lot of trouble to make this a very successful meeting and it surprises me that they should continue to ignore this obvious lack of facilities. In view of all the horse-racing fraternity’s opposition to the introduction of Lotto, surely it is- amazing that the largest trotting complex in the South Island can afford to turn away all this additional revenue. — Yours, etc.,

W. MOFFITT. January 2, 1986.

[The president of the Canterbury Park Trotting Club, Mr L. A. Smart replies: “We would welcome the opportunity of discussing with Mr Moffitt any inconvenience he personally suffered but the only occasion on which a considerable amount of money was shut out was on the eighth race on the second night of the New Year meeting, January 3, 1986. This was caused through an inquiry and a dead-heat occurring earlier in the night, and incidents such as these do tend to slow proceedings. Mr Moffitt’s comments relating to the successful promotion of the meeting are indeed pleasing and I can assure him that when evaluating the number of windows required for each meeting, influences on attendances, such as promotions of this nature, are taken into account.”]