TURF CLUB RACES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20140, 9 January 1940, Page 10

TURF CLUB RACES

SUMMER MEETING OPEN RACE STAKES NOVEL CONDITIONS By “Trenton” The Poverty Bay Turf Club has issued its programme for the summer meeting, to be held at the Makaraka racecourse on February 10 and 12. A feature of the programme is the conditions attached to the stakes in the two open races each day. Although the stakes are up to the standard of recent years, in these four events the club has offered an extra incentive to owners by adding £lO to the stake for each starter in excess of four in each event.

This novel method of assessing the value of the stakes has been used on rare occasions in other centres but will be something new in Gisborne. In the past the open races have been sparingly patronised, and it is to be hoped that the innovation will prove successful. Hurdle events have proved fairly popular at the local winter meetings, but the same cannot be said of the summer fixtures. It would, therefore, appear that the Turf Club has made a wise move in substituting a highweight race each day for the hurdle events.

For the two days the club is offering £1340 in stakes. The total may be increased considerably if the open races are well patronised. However, the club should have no fears on that score, as the extra investments through the totalisator should amply recoup the extra outlay. All classes have been well catered for, and with the nomination and acceptance fees fixed at £1 in all races with the exception of the Turanga Stakes, where the acceptance fee is £1 10s, the club should receive excellent nominations, which close on January 19.