Welcome to the final update of the week as we lead into a weekend of racing which will feature black-type racing at both Te Rapa and Whanganui on Saturday and jumping at Te Aroha on Sunday.

Our thanks to the clubs who have worked to ensure we are able to conduct these meetings while adhering to the protocols required, and to our participants who have played by the rules.  Your vigilance is necessary while wait for the Alert Levels to be eased eventually allowing our owners and members of the public back on course.

Earlier today NZTR CEO Bernard Saundry provided an overview on Facebook and this can be viewed here.

The Horse of the Year Awards, supported by SENZ, have once again been impacted by COVID and we have confirmed our new date as Sunday, 21 November.  Provided there are no further COVID Alert Level curve balls we look forward to celebrating the highlights of the previous season with our finalists and other industry participants.

While our focus has been on getting back up and racing under Alert Level 3, there have also been good news stories featuring on our LOVERACING.NZ Facebook feed.  It has been exciting to share the story of Byerley Parks Daniel Nakhle and former jockey Donavan Mansour combining to create the New Zealand Racing Academy.  This initiative sees the industry working alongside educational provider Skill New Zealand and students having the opportunity to experience every aspect of the industry.  Both NZTR and the NZ Equine Education Trust have endorsed the establishment of the NZ Racing Academy.   If you want to know more then check out the video here.

A reminder that everyone over 12 in New Zealand is now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccination and we encourage you to go online and make a booking.  You can find out more about how to book here.

Changes to racing next week

The Cambridge meeting scheduled for Wednesday, 8 September has been abandoned with the Taupo meeting originally scheduled for Tuesday, 7 September, transferring to Wednesday.

With 19 of the 45 horses nominated for Cambridge also nominated at Taupo, and that meeting having a total of 80 nominations at midday Friday, it was clear one meeting the optimum result.

All races will remain open until 9am on Saturday, 4 September.  All nominations will be treated as original. Any single nomination for Cambridge will need to nominate with the Bureau if they wish to race at Taupo.

The R65 2000m race programmed at Cambridge will now be programmed at Taupo to make an 8^th race.  The “Group Trial” to be held prior to race 1 at Taupo has 10 horses and is now closed.

Cambridge Synthetic races are scheduled again on Wednesday, 15 September.