Strong West Coast circuit

Press, 19 December 1988, Page 34

Strong West Coast circuit

Special correspondent Greymouth 1988-89 West Coast Christmas-new year trotting circuit is as popular as ever with owners and trainers. The Westport Trotting Club’s secretary, Mr Bryan Forsyth, said on Thursday that nominations for the club’s twoday meeting on December 26 and 27 were very heavy, and it seemed likely many horses would miss out on gaining entry to the fields. “We’ve had nominations from all over the South Island, including teams from Winton, Dunedin, Waikouaiti and the usual high numbers from Nel-son-Marlborough,” Mr Forsyth said.

The feature race of the Westport meeting, the $7OOO Westport Retailers’ Cup, has attracted 40 nominations, including some of the most promising horses racing in the C2 class.

Supporting races have not escaped the attention of owners and trainers and all classes are likely to have horses eliminated from them. The highly successful promotion, the $lO,OOO Cocks and Idiens West Coast Bonus, has again resulted in a high number of maiden entries.

The West Coast circuit covers five days. The Westport meeting is followed by the one-day Reefton Trotting Club’s day on December 29 and the two-night Greymouth Trotting Club’s meeting on January 3 and 5. Nominations for the latter two close, on Wednesday.

Stakes increases by all three have resulted in more than $220,000 being on offer ove’r the five meetings.