Some of New Zealand’s biggest punters, and a fashion contest, are expected to carry the day in the phantom race day going ahead in Hastings on Saturday despite the loss of the big race around which the day was being built on. The New Zealand Punter of the Year competition has been an annual feature of Hawkes Bay racing since 1998 and will see up to 150 entrants at the Hastings race course betting a combined total of at least $225,000 across the 10 Hawke’s Bay races now being run at Waikato race course Te Rapa . They comprise the $550,000 Livamol Spring Classic, the $120,000 Valley D’Vine Spring Sprint, and eight other races each with stakes of $65,000 – a total of almost $1.
2 million on what was to have been the third day of the Hawke’s Bay Racing Spring Racing Carnival in Hastings. The transferring of the meeting by New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing followed a safety assessment after the abandonment of racing on the second day (September 28) after a horse slipped , but did not fall, in what became the one and only race..
