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

With a beautiful Western Bay day unfolding on the second day of January 2013, Sideline Sid headed for the races at the nearby by Gate Pa racecourse.

The attraction was two fold, with a renewed membership of Racing Tauranga giving the old fella a chance to view the modern day facilities on offer for punters at the local racetrack – and the chance to make a little money.

While Sid first joined the Tauranga Racing Club over four decades ago, travel around the country, saw his membership lapse many years ago.

In the intervening decades the face and shape of horseracing has changed forever.

Driven by the racing hierarchy urge for turnover, racing has become an avalanche of a race every few minutes from dawn to late in the night.

While the TV Trackside channels bring racing from throughout the world into the living room of the country - it has been to the detriment of people going to the track, with minuscule crowds at the majority of the countries race meetings.

However Racing Tauranga has met the challenge of getting people back to the races head on. Wednesday races had a crowd reminiscent of the turnouts for the big Stars Travel meetings of the 1970's.

A full to overflowing car park, with the excess in the infield, told the tale of the large holiday crowd that left the beaches to flock to the course in droves.

Oh What a Day. Leaving the serenity of the members stand to meet family, saw us immersed in the large happy crowd on the lawn in front of the public stand.

With young and old and a myriad of family groups jostling for places to view each race, there was nothing but friendliness and laughter on display.

To say that the Committee of the local race club has found the right formula to get people back on the local track is an understatement. The key to getting adults up close and personal with thoroughbred racing machines is to grab the myriad of kids that were at the New Year races and give them a day that they won't forget.

While the adults had making money on their agenda, there was a non-stop list of activities for the youngsters.

Squeals of delight echoed from the kid's zone, with good old fashioned merry go round rides and bouncy castles, providing simple but hugely enjoyable entertainment for the punters of the future.

Mixed in were a number of competitions and music that kept the crowd entertained between each race.

However Sideline Sid was given a another lesson in not to believe all the media hype generated about so called horse racing stars of the future.

In the main race of the day, the next big star of New Zealand racing had just to turn up to extend its unbeaten record to six straight, according to the racing media and the myriad of experts on hand at the Gate Pa course.

Punters are notorious for talking through their wallet and there was near silence and a sense of disbelief when the hot pot was rolled.

However the doom and gloom quickly disappeared, with attention quickly turning to refilling the wallet with the winner of the next race on the card.

Racing Tauranga are entitled to take a bow for putting on a fantastic day - with the trick now being to keep the crowds coming back in the next twelve months.

Seeya at the Tauranga Races on Friday week.