Hawkes Bay Racecourse on track to running trials by April 2026! Good news!

[Chief Stipe]

Racing expected back on the Hastings course this season: John Jenkinshttps://bitofayarn.com

Opinion by

Hawkes Bay Today

14 Feb, 2026 06:00 AM9 mins to read

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Hastings-trained Gohugo stretches his neck out to score a brave win in a Rating 75 race over 1300m at Tauherenikau on Friday last week.

John Jenkins is a longtime racing journalist based in Hawke’s Bayhttps://bitofayarn.com

Racing is likely to resume on the Hastings racecourse before winter, providing protocols set down by New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing, the Racing Integrity Board and the New Zealand Jockeys Association are met.

The re-cambering work on the course proper has been completed.

Initially it was planned that two bends would be re-cambered, the one going out of the home straight and the one at the 1400m mark.

But, with that work completed under schedule and under budget, it was also decided to improve the camber of the home bend entering the straight.

 

The re-cambering work involved using a special machine that cut out slices of turf on the course proper at a depth of 50 millimetres.https://bitofayarn.com

The machine rolled up these slices and they were then stored on wooden pallets.

Where the sections of turf were removed the underneath soil was sloped and additional soil added to establish a camber that measured as much as 1.5 metres on the outside of the track.

 

The strips of grass were then re-laid on top of the soil and the ground has been extensively watered so that the grass beads in well and to encourage root growth.

The whole process has gone smoothly up to this point, with a lush sole of grass presently covering the course proper.

With the original plastic running rail at the Hastings racecourse now being used by the Waipukurau Jockey Club, two new rails have had to be purchased for the Hastings track.https://bitofayarn.com

There is a necessity to have two rails erected, one on the inside and one on the outside, as there is now a significant drop down in certain outside areas due to the extra height caused by the re-cambering.

Darin Balcombe, the interim chief executive of Hawke’s Bay Racing, said this week that the two running rails are Australian-made and have been on order for some time.

“They will be shipped to New Zealand and should arrive either by the end of this month or early next month,” Balcombe said.

Once the running rails are erected, horses should be able to gallop on the course proper by early April and then jumpouts or trials will be conducted after that.

Providing there are no problems, an official race meeting will then be planned before the winter sets in.

 

There will then be no racing on the Hastings track in June and July but it is hoped that another race meeting will be held in late August ahead of the traditional three-day spring carnival in September and October.

[curious]

Oh dear. They've done great work there and seemingly well on budget, but are they rushing back yet again?

Edited 2 hours ago by curious

[Chief Stipe]

38 minutes ago, curious said:

Oh dear. They've done great work there and seemingly well on budget, but are they rushing back yet again?

The difference is they say they used "soil" not sand and they relaid existing turf that was 50mm in depth already.  So the grass had a head start rather than being sown as seed directly or as new turf laid.

[curious]

19 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

The difference is they say they used "soil" not sand and they relaid existing turf that was 50mm in depth already.  So the grass had a head start rather than being sown as seed directly or as new turf laid.

Totally. Good system I think but if it were me, I'd be giving the relaid 50mm turf at least the winter and spring for root development for it to bind with and secure the underlying soil.

[Chief Stipe]

8 minutes ago, curious said:

Totally. Good system I think but if it were me, I'd be giving the relaid 50mm turf at least the winter and spring for root development for it to bind with and secure the underlying soil.

Well it looks like they are taking a step by step process to get to racing and then no racing in June and July until late August.  The jumpout, then trial then race seems sensible with the pin being able to be pulled at any stage.  The galloping will consolidate but also encourage new root growth as the turf responds to damage during the autumn when grass grows best.