Every track in NZ is heavy yet Oamaru has a good 4, maybe that feature meeting at Riccarton should be moved to Oamaru, it's not like that always but generally North Otago is one of the driest places in NZ but it shows though that the tracks need a good spell, Oamaru havnt raced for 11 months, yet Riccarton gets the shit beaten out of it regularly and yet they want less tracks doing more racing, it might work in oz with a warmer climate, not in old NZ though.
The issues of closing either Oamaru or Timaru is interesting in itself, Oamaru is probably better for harness, Timaru for gallops, so will there be compromise?