Sports correspondent & historian with Sideline Sid

In last week’s Sideline Sid column, we talked about Racing Minister Winston Peters curtailing commercial greyhound racing in the country.

Peters has served several terms as Minister of Racing. Once regarded as a lame-duck portfolio, Peters, who has a genuine interest in racing, has been an agent of change.

Parliamentarians, by their very nature, are merchants of change.

While effectively banning greyhound racing because of animal welfare issues, he also instituted major change in the thoroughbred racing industry over the last decade.

We saw first-hand the effects of years of neglect in the sport, with a small ownership share in a couple of horses a decade and a bit ago.

Stakeholders leaving the industry in droves grabbed the attention of the Racing Minister.

In what was considered a controversial appointment, Peters brought a leading Australian racing administrator across the ditch to review the state of our thoroughbred racing.

Poor stake money, a proliferation of racecourses and a TAB that was a minnow in the world of corporate bookmaking were some of the problems identified in the John Messara report.

Arguably, the most controversial recommendation that was enacted was the closure of a good number of the country’s rural racecourses.

There was anger in the provinces with the closure of such courses as Dargaville, Gisborne, Wairoa, Foxton and a number of rural South Island venues.

Racing Tauranga received a solid assessment and was ranked as a Central North Island course of significance, due to previous hard work in future-proofing the Gate Pā course.

Legislation under the Racing Industry Act enabled the TAB to enter a 25‑year strategic partnership with Entain, one of the world’s largest corporate bookmakers, with Entain taking over day‑to‑day betting and broadcasting operations.

Stake money doubled for grassroots mid-week industry meetings and the best feature races were held for stakes up to and beyond $500,000.

Thoroughbred racing clubs reacted to the new money in a variety of ways.

The Auckland Racing Club merged with its Counties counterparts. The club first renovated the Pukekohe racing surface before turning its attention to the hallowed Ellerslie turf.

The new Strathalbyn surface is in my view providing the most consistent racing surface in New Zealand. Horses can come from any position in the running to win.

Ellerslie embraced the new climate created by Peters.

Change is a two-edged sword.

However, the full picture of the closure of the country’s courses wasn’t completely understood.

Several racecourse surfaces were put under increased pressure, with extra meetings to cope with the overload, without regard for their ability to absorb the additional damage to their turf.

While Peters talked about the new beginning, I believe we are only halfway there, and that the Gate Pā course will be one of the anchor venues that will sustain New Zealand thoroughbred racing as we move through the next half century.