Riccarton’s synthetic track debate heats up as roadshow heads south

The Wyong Polytrack

by Brian de Lore
Published 9^th September 2020

Leading South Island racing people remain divided on the issue of the building of the Polytrack at Riccarton with detractors of the proposal seemingly outnumbering those in favour by a Winx-like margin. But indications are the building of the track will go ahead despite the opposition.

Blood pressures are sure to rise, and the debate is bound to be lively when the NZTR Roadshow arrives at Ascot Park, Wingatui, and Riccarton over Thursday and Friday of this week when all subjects racing are up for discussion with NZTR heavyweights Alan Jackson and Bernard Saundry.

The synthetic track proposal for Riccarton will be the hottest item on the agenda. Owners, trainers, and motivated pundits may turn up in good numbers (although not more than 100 are allowed) at every venue to have their say and attempt to sway the argument.

Leading South Island and Riccarton trainer Michael Pitman makes no bones about where he stands in the Riccarton Polytrack debate.

He says: “No one knows how much it’s going to cost; that’s the thing that annoys me. They have a ballpark figure; it could be as low as $12 or $13 million, but it could be as high as $18 million, but they don’t know until the design plan is finalised.

Michael Pitman: I want to see more racing at Riccarton, and I don’t want to travel anymore…

“Personally, and I’m looking at this through rose coloured glass. I am based at Riccarton and have my own property at Yaldhurst, and I want to see more racing at Riccarton, and I don’t want to travel anymore because I’m sick of it.”

When asked what Michael Pitman would say to the people in Southland who might lose dates and have to travel more, Michael responded, “I agree with that, they probably will have to travel more, but that’s life.

“I’m all in favour of the all-weather track,” Michael continued, “and I hate the criticism of the track coming from people who have never seen one in their life. They are not the be-all and end-all; they’re only an aid, and they’ll probably hold only 12 meetings a year on the Riccarton one.

“I want to see more racing at Riccarton, but it can’t be held on the turf because the grass track probably couldn’t handle any more days than it has allocated now. It’s not going to suit all my horses, but hopefully, it will suit some of them.

“We will be able to hold regular trials on the all-weather and have much better facilities for training both through the winter and summer months. It will be a huge advantage for the Riccarton trainers to use the Polytrack for training six days a week, and that’s what they are all up in arms over. If they want to be professional trainers, they can shift to Riccarton.”

The grey area is the final cost and the annual maintenance costs

The Michael Pitman optimism in saying it might come in under the touted $16 million budget seems fanciful in the knowledge that nothing completed in racing in living memory has come in under budget. The grey area is the final cost and the annual maintenance costs, which are unknown at this time with the design plan incomplete.

Gallop South General Manager Jo Gordon says, “The ongoing costs are just one of the problems. Some people who want it can’t see past the Provincial Fund’s $10 million being there for the taking. They can’t see past the money.

“Why do we want a synthetic track?” continued Jo. “Places like Oamaru and Timaru have the lowest rainfall in New Zealand during winter. The South Island doesn’t generally run its winter racing on heavy, bottomless tracks like they do in the North Island.

“We wrote to Bernard Saundry, and he replied, but he thinks it’s just an Otago-Southland issue and he couldn’t be more wrong. In the past week, I’ve had seven trainers on the phone, and six of those were from Canterbury who didn’t want the synthetic track. Most trainers in Canterbury do not want it.

Jo Gordon: If they rip one more day out of the southern program, racing becomes all that less viable. 

“If they rip one more day out of the southern program, racing becomes all that less viable. If racing goes in the south, they will all go – Canterbury will not survive by themselves.”

Jo Gordon’s thoughts were echoed by Riverton based leading Southland trainer Kelvin Tyler.

He said, “I can’t find one reason why the South Island would ever want one. Apart from Riccarton, Southland has the biggest number of horses in training, and if you want to stuff South Island racing then this is the fastest way to do it.

“If anyone thinks we are going to race on a synthetic track when we haven’t even worked a horse on it, then they’re dreaming.

“If Riverton was based in the middle of the South Island it would be the second-best track, and it would be in the top five in New Zealand. Riverton is as strong as it’s been in a long time; we have over 50 horses in work here now – it might be 20 years ago since we had those numbers.

Kelvin Tyler: If they close Riverton down, I’ll just walk away from racing

“If they close Riverton down, I’ll just walk away from racing and do my dairy farming. I love racing, though, and that’s why I’m in it – not for financial gain. At Riverton we have a lot of young guys that have come onto the committee – it’s very frustrating the way New Zealand racing is at present.

“Winter racing in the South Island has always been about racing on grass with winter class horses. We get heavy tracks, and some horses love it, but up the east coast of the Island the winter racing is often on dead tracks.”

John Parsons of the highly successful John and Karen Parsons training team from Balcairn in North Canterbury also has an issue with a synthetic track at Riccarton.

“If it was going to get the game back on track, there would be some sense to it,” began John, “but to spend that sort of money while they are closing all these small tracks when they’re already in place and are costing nothing – I can’t see the sense in it.

John Parsons: It might benefit a few Riccarton trainers, but how can you race on it if you don’t train on it?

“There are no synthetic tracks they race on in Sydney, and the ones in Melbourne are so predictable. I can’t believe they are even thinking about it. It might benefit a few Riccarton trainers, but how can you race on it if you don’t train on it. Horses working on it will have a distinct advantage when they race on it.

“In Australia they only run lower grade horses on it, and at Riccarton they are talking about 12 meetings a year. Where are they going to take those dates from? It will ruin racing in other places, and probably the south. They reckon the one at Cambridge cost $16 million; I’d rather see them put the money into stakes,” concluded John Parsons.

Leading the charge to build the Polytrack with the approval of his committee is Canterbury Jockey Club CEO Tim Mills who I phoned this week to see how he thought Friday’s meeting would go and how far the Club had progressed towards finalisation of the project.

“Friday’s meeting will have to be limited to 100 people,” said Tim, “but it shouldn’t be a problem because we haven’t had more than 100 in the past. This week might be Murphy’s law if they do come out of the woodwork for this discussion – we will have it set-up according to COVID-19 level two requirements.

“The three synthetic tracks is a national strategy, and where I think Gallop South have a problem with it is that the Messara Report predicted they might have only 20 race dates in six or seven years time, and they will lose race dates, and they will end up at the synthetic track – that’s where I believe the opposition all started and they’ve really got themselves fired-up about it.

Tim Mills: NZTR has told them they will still have their 32 dates

“NZTR has told them they will still have their 32 dates. You would have to ask Bernard Saundry for confirmation on that, but some information of that nature will be public after this week’s roadshow.

“There are two parts to it,” started Tim Mills in explanation of the Club’s stance, “and that is it’s part of the Messara Report, and the trustees of the racecourse have embraced the Messara Report to revitalise racing. While we accept that the synthetic track is not a silver bullet, the three synthetics is one of the 17 recommendations to revitalise racing.

“The design for the track is 1900 metres by 16 metres wide. It’s a bigger circumference but similar width to Cambridge.”

The annual cost of maintaining a Polytrack is dependent upon staff, equipment, the base, weather conditions and the amount of usage and the requirement of renovation, and is likely to be different for each track. I have seen documentation detailing annual costs of $1.56 million for maintenance of the Polytrack at the Singapore Jockey Club.

Tim Mills continued, “There are so many different stories about what they cost, and that’s certainly not what the maintenance costs will be. We’re told that if you spread the costs out over a 12-year average with the big projects that have to happen every four years, then it averages out at $55,000 to $65,000 annually.

“…how are we going to approach the situation in eight, ten or 12 years time when the material has to be relaid…” – Tim Mills

“The question we need to address with the NZTR before anything is nailed down is how are we going to approach the situation in eight, ten or 12 years time when the material has to be relaid – that’s the question that still needs to be resolved.

“Yes,” I have seen the Singapore costs, but as far as I’m aware, the Cambridge track isn’t going to be costing anything like that, so I don’t know why Riccarton would be any different to Cambridge. We would have preferred to have had a couple of years to see exactly what the maintenance costs would be but when the Minister announced the money that put everything on the opposite of the backburner, which is the fast burner.”

So, did the CJC feel the pressure of not wanting to pass up the opportunity to get the $10,000 million? Tim answered: “What we don’t want to pass up is the opportunity to be an evolutionary part of racing, and if the benefits are there for racing, to be part of an overall package.

“It’s hard to say if the people in opposition to the track will come across once the track is built, because they have it cemented in their brains they will lose race dates. Now, I can’t guarantee them they won’t lose dates because only NZTR can do that, but I have seen a letter that says NZTR do not intend to take away dates and destroy the pattern of racing in Otago and Southland.

Tim Mills: I’m struggling to see where the paranoia is coming from

“The likes of Motukarara, Waimate, and dare I say it, Timaru is the one at risk. The irony is the synthetic tracks are predominately late autumn, winter, early spring, and Southland only has one race date during that whole period. I’m struggling to see where the paranoia is coming from.

“I can only report on what we have been told, but Bernard is going to be talking about dates this week. I stress that the CJC doesn’t make a decision on dates.

“If it’s costing $5,000 a week, which is $250,000 a year, there is no way we can run it. Our information is it will cost between $55,000 and $65,000 a year to maintain, and if you look at what we pay to maintain grass tracks, the plough and sand tracks, it’s not in excess of that figure.

“Riccarton will get extra race dates, but they will be mid-week dates. We don’t know how many, it could be as many as 12, but it might be eight, nine or 13 – again, it’s all part of the revitalisation of the sport. It’s not going to take away the grass track as being the principal surface used for the major race days.

“The track would be built inside the line of the course proper so the plough will go. There will be a new grass track built inside the synthetic track. We have a meeting on the 16^th of this month at which the design plans will be presented to interested parties.

Tim Mills: A lot of the questions Gallop South is asking are the same questions the CJC is asking of NZTR.

“A lot of the questions Gallop South is asking are the same questions the CJC is asking of NZTR. We are still waiting for some of those questions to be answered – at this point the final cost hasn’t even been determined. As soon as the design is finalised we will know the cost and the maintenance costs. The Minister’s announcement on the 12^th of May accelerated everyone’s planning and thinking.

“I think the South Island would be foolish not to be taking the evolution of the sport seriously.”

The Optimist Says:

The pros and cons of the synthetic track debate is clouded by the financial detail of the deal with Government to access the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF).

Firstly, why did Cambridge get only $6.5 million when Awapuni and Riccarton were granted $10 million each? It seems strange given Cambridge needed the synthetic more than any other centre in New Zealand with more annual rainfall (1,213mm or 47.8 inch) and 1,100 horses in work, which is more than double the number of the other two venues combined.

Then, The Optimist discovered that the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) advised both The Canterbury Jockey Club and Race Corp (Awapuni), they would both be required to front with a minimum of $3 million or a 22% contribution for the building of the Polytracks.

The way the numbers work is that the PGF grant of $10 million for each venue would include $500,000 deemed non-refundable by the clubs on the basis they needed to do Geotech work and feasibility studies, etc. And then there’s $9.5 million left for each of the Polytracks to be built.

So, if they did proceed with the preliminary work but decided not to go ahead, but did the work in good faith, they each wouldn’t have to pay the $500,000 back. After that, if the clubs proceed, they need to front up with the extra cash to complete the synthetic track projects, and for Awapuni, it’s a minimum of $3 million and for Riccarton, a minimum of $5 million. Neither club has that money available.

Another problem for both clubs comes in 10-years-time when the compound on the Polytrack needs redoing to the tune of several million for each track?

Another problem for both clubs comes in 10-years-time when the compound on the Polytrack needs redoing to the tune of several million for each track? How do they budget for that when neither club today has the cash to pay for 22 percent of the installion of the Polytrack in the first place.

Does anyone reading this (and all power to you for having the tenacity to read this far) believes we can afford to build these tracks? Both tracks seem a bridge too far, but one track might be doable if our esteemed Minister of Racing agreed to pour the PGF resources into the neediest one instead of two – both overstretched.

If you said which of Riccarton and Awapuni is the neediest, and were honest about it, then Awapuni and the Central Districts is far more desperate than Riccarton. Riccarton will survive, but the Central Districts has been on death’s door for ages and is worth saving – such a move could save it.

Consider the absurdity of this entire situation. The industry is broke, NZRB and RITA have sold us down the river, and $20 million is there in the PGF which can go into synthetic tracks with no chance of a financial return. What it might do is save the C.D. where the need is greater.

Race Incorporated have done their design for the synthetic, which would make it the first course in New Zealand to have three racecourses

Race Incorporated have done their design for the synthetic, which would make it the first course in New Zealand to have three racecourses.
 
If Awapuni gets a synthetic, the next step in the plan is to rip up the course proper at and do it properly. Race Incorporated have done their design for the synthetic, which would make it the first course in New Zealand to have three racecourses. They have plans for the long course bend and the short course bend on turf, and the synthetic inside those two.

They plan to go from 18 turf meetings a year to 22 or 24 and be able to run another 16 on synthetic. The thing about synthetic tracks is they love water – really love water. Water on a Polytrack tenses the track up slightly and the horses run faster times. Water or rainfall is far more prevalent at Awapuni than Riccarton.

In Winston Peters speech for his emergency support for racing made two days before the 2020 Budget was delivered, he said: “Compelling arguments exist behind synthetic race tracks because they reduce the number of cancelled events due to weather or poor surfaces.”

Annual rainfall at Awapuni is 980mm (38.6 inch) whereas Riccarton in 2019 was 543.2mm (21.38 inch). With reasonable drainage, neither Awapuni nor Riccarton race days should ever be lost to poor surfaces. It barely happened at all in the good old days.

If you were honest about what’s best for New Zealand racing and put all parochialism aside, then what would you do? If racing in New Zealand is to turn around its continuous fall from grace, then racing people have to band together and do what’s best for racing, and not what’s best for just themselves.