Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

The New Zealand racing industry was given a shot of reality last week, with the release of the "Review of the New Zealand Racing Industry", by well credentialed Australian racing industry administrator John Messara.

New Zealand Racing Minister Winston Peters commissioned the report, which was released late last week, to the usual bag of mixed reactions with many responses driven by self interest.

In this writers opinion, horse racing in this country is still stuck in the 1960's, where the races were held on just Saturday and Wednesday's and going to the races was a real social occasion, where people got dressed up for a day out at the geegee's.

Today we have too many race courses, with poorly maintained facilities, which for the majority of their meetings have few patrons on course. Punter friendly TAB's, Trackside TV and Internet betting, cater for wall to wall racing seven days a week.

Much of the wailing around the Messara report concerns the recommendations that the number of New Zealand thoroughbred racecourses be nearly halved from 48 to 28 gallops venues.

The country simply has too many gallops tracks for a sustainable future for the sport. While many of the courses marked for extinction are country tracks, that race once or twice a season, two North Island city tracks are recommended for the axe.

Avondale in the City of Sails and the Rotorua Racing Club are both on the Messara and Peters hit list. Both clubs are paying the price for lack of investment which has resulted in sub-standard facilities especially for joe-public.

Racing Tauranga on the Tauranga City doorstep looks certain to benefit if the full complement of course closures become a reality.

While the closure of Arawa Park in the Sulphur City is scheduled for stage five, the Messara report clearly spells out that racing be transferred to the Western Bay of Plenty's Gate Pa track.

Perusal of the Monday edition of the ODT (Otago Daily Times) is headlined by RACING CLUBS VOW TO FIGHT, with seven Otago and Southland tracks to face the chop. This is a good example of putting self interest before the survival of the racing industry in the Deep South.

The Rotorua Racing Club should take notice of harness racing in the Western Bay of Plenty. Over three decades ago, the Bay of Plenty Harness Racing Club transferred its principal race night to Cambridge raceway.

Just last year, the four trotting clubs that raced at Cambridge went into voluntary liquidation and reformed under the umbrella of the Waikato Bay of Plenty Harness Racing Club.

Maybe in the future, we could see the return of the Bay of Plenty Racing Club at Gate Pa, which has become an amalgamation of the two Bay of Plenty city's racing identities.