It’s business – just not quite as usual – for Ascot Park in Invercargill this weekend.
The Tuapeka Harness Racing Club meeting there on Sunday will go ahead as planned, despite dozens of stalls being destroyed in this week’s high winds in Southland and around the rest of the country.
The carnage started on Monday as gale force winds whipped through the raceway and then there was a second wave of damage yesterday.
“We’ve lost 60 or 70 stalls in total,” says Southern Harness General Manager Jason Broad.
“We now have about 50 stalls left and we have 80 horses in on Sunday so we are just going to have to manage the situation.”
“We’ll just have to be smart about getting horses in and out during the day and we are confident the trainers will help us out too.”
Already the all clear has been given for the meeting to continue.
“We’ve had a bit of working bee this morning and we’ve got a pass mark,” says Broad.
The 10-race programme will start at 12.32pm with the feature being the Tuapeka Lodge Cup (4.56pm).
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