This article has kindly been put together by Gordon Calder.
A brief history of the all-weather synthetic racetrack: It was established at the Cambridge Jockey Club in 2020 and racing commenced on it in May 2021. At a cost of around $12 million, this was jointly funded by the Government's Provincial Growth Fund, NZ Thoroughbred Racing and the Cambridge Jockey Club. Prior to this time there were no thoroughbred race meetings held in Cambridge.
On the eve of the very first meeting in May 2021, Cambridge Jockey Club CEO Mark Fraser-Campin approached Richard Seabrook and myself to request our assistance with the car parking. It was a good piece of anticipation from Mark, as there was a much bigger crowd than anticipated and we had a very busy day – both main car parks were quickly filled, as was a temporary car park set up over the road, as was the roadside for a considerable distance on both sides of the road.
If I say so myself we did a great job that day, our services were much appreciated. We received a great deal of positive feedback from the club and public alike …. And we have been in action for every race meeting since (totalling 36 so far!).
The beauty of the synthetic track is that it operates best in wet conditions so is utilised extensively throughout the winter (from May to October). There are 12 meetings scheduled for the current season, but it is not unusual for meetings to be transferred from grass tracks at other venues following periods of heavy rain. This happened three times last season.
We have a great team who help out with this venture (we only need three people each day) these being, myself, Richard Seabrook, Gavin Levesque, Bill Wilson, Roger Hill, Laurie Graham, Chris Smiley, Dennis Finn, Nigel Salter, Ted Mason, Bill Robinson, and recent addition David Kennett.
We get paid $300 plus GST for each race day.
