Hastings Racecourse faces uncertain future as major meetings moved
New Zealand Racing Authority has shifted the Spring Carnival races away from Hastings, threatening 75 percent of the racecourse's annual income and raising closure concerns.
A 10-year diary project capturing life at Hastings Racecourse reveals the impact of the Racing Authority's decision to relocate major Group 1 races to other venues. The move has cost the venue significantly and left staff, trainers, and horses facing an uncertain future. Track management has described the prospects of recovering the lost races as bleak, with potential closure now a possibility. The situation threatens livelihoods across the local racing community.
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The precarious nature of the track: a day in the life of a racecourse
It Gets In Your Blood: Lives Of A Racecourse by Marty Smith is an immersive portrait of the people and horses who make the Hastings Racecourse, composed in diary form over 10 years, from 2015–2025. In this abridged and edited…