If someone needed to take cannabis for medical reasons logic says they wouldn't be fit to ride.

Does anyone know how racing now deals with cannabis use,  it any  positive reading  comes via a medical prescription? would a rider or stable hand or track rider etc have to declare so use? would the test be made public?

So are people not really interested in the quality of the racing just looking for a good day out.

It would be interesting to compare and contrast how Waikouaiti  which used to have Jan 1st,  Now Riverton on that day.  Waikouaiti moved to Wingatui (was it Jan 9th?) with good fields and stakes, but didn't seem like that many on course!  The old Waikouaiti is gone,  a few jockeys have mentioned it was never that safe!

Yes, they have had that date for many years but in the past they have shared it with other clubs. The most recent was Te Rapa  up to about 10 years ago and from memory Riccarton has also raced on that day in the past. Holidays are no longer the guaranteed windfall as many years ago. Trentham and Awapuni used to race on the Wellington Anniversary Day and they both dropped this day some time ago. On 3 January this year Trentham raced in front of very small crowd even though they were part of "The Grand Tour" On 2 January many thousands drove up the Hutt Valley past Trentham to attend Tauherenikau and had no intention of attending Trentham the next day. Hawkes bay used to race on 1 January, and their crowds dropped off so they moved to an earlier day.