TROTTING Slight Drop In Betting At Trotting Meetings

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31113, 16 July 1966, Page 6

TROTTING Slight Drop In Betting At Trotting Meetings

Betting at trotting meetings throughout New Zealand this season showed a slight decline over the previous year.

Total betting on trotting meetings amounted to £17,348.078 15s, a drop of £143,503 5s over the £17,491,582 10s of the previous season.

However, the decline is far from serious as several permits used in metropolitan areas in the 1964-65 season reverted to country tracks this season.

In addition, the Forbury Park club ran the InterDominion Championship series in 1964-65. The club used an extra permit and gave £61,650 in stakes for the season. This season, for seven permits, stakes amounted to £41,950. The drop of almost £20,000 in stakes at Forbury Park was not reflected in the over-all total, which reached £624,876, compared with £628,285, a drop of £3409. The stakes were £547,824 in 1963-64, when there were 12 fewer permits. On-course betting this season showed a drop of £122,111 5s to £7,711,611105. Off-course the drop was only £21,392 to £9,636,467 ss. Reductions in stakes during the current season were mostly minor, some owing to clubs racing on different tracks than in the previous season.

Probably the most signifl-

cant drop was shown by the Auckland club, which gave £99,200 for its 13 pennits, a drop of £BB3O. The club’s average reached £7630, compared with £B3lO in 1963-64. The Auckland club might be able to restore stakes to something approaching the £108,030 of the previous season. Both on and off-course turn-over showed an increase at Auckland. On-course the total was £1,413,702 15s. compared with £1,337,599, and Offcourse the total was £1,459,208 10s, compared with £1,411,683 10s. The Auckland elub’s figures do not compare favourably with those of the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club when taken on a daily basis. Stakes at Addington Raceway averaged £9685 on a day, compared with Auckland’s £7630. On-course turnover averaged £122,946, compared with £108,746. Offcourse figures averaged £124,865 at Addington Raceway, compared with £112,246 at Auckland. Losing Ground The Auckland club is finding it difficult to recapture public support: but it could help itself considerably by framing programmes different from those of recent years. The club has seldom changed classes or distances from meeting to meeting.

Returns from the totalisator must have been encouraging for the Auckland club, and it will be interesting to see if those figures can be maintained or improved without radical changes in framing programmes. The Franklin club, also racing at Alexandra Park, reduced its stakes from £10.250 to £9lOO, but totalisator turnover increased by almost £90,000, some £30,000 of that being on-course. The same pattern is shown in figures for the Thames club, which uses three permits on the Auckland course. Stakes dropped to £15,550 from £16,050, but combined turn-over increased by more than £40,000 to £565,751 ss. By far the biggest stakes for any one-day club were provided by the Banks Peninsula Trotting Club, whose stakes rose from £3035 to £3835. Oncouree turn-over of £55,783 was far in advance of anything returned by any oneday club, even those racing at night The off-course turnover of £47,247 15s was exceeded only by Kaikoura, with £71,309 ss, and Rotoma, with £47,737 10s, among the day clubs. Three clubs racing at night had greater totals. Second highest stakes among the one-day clubs were provided by Hororata, with £3425, followed by Waimate (£3375) and Roxburgh (£3265). The Cheviot club (£44,513) had the second largest oncourse turn-over, but stakes for this club were only £3075, an increase of £3OO over the previous year. At Night The three one-night clubs with the greatest turn-overs— Otaki, £134,802 ss; Masterton, £125,895; and Morrinsville, £121,054 ss—paid surprisingly poor stakes. Otaki paid £3225, Masterton, £3150, and Morrinsville £2475. On-course, Otaki handled £43,112. Masterton, £41,861 10s, and Morrinsville, £36,259 ss. One of the biggest losses was returned by the Wellington club. Both on and offcourse figures declined and the total dropped to £1,349,891 from £1,542,411. Stakes rose during the season to £41,640 from £40,340 and in spite of the drop in turn-over the club showed a profit for the season. Some of the turn-over declines could be attributed to bad weather. This applies to many meetings held midDecember and March, particularly in Southland. Results of the year's operation can be considered most satisfactory.