FOXTON RACING CLUB.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3557, 2 November 1926, Page 2

FOXTON RACING CLUB.

ALTERATIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS TO COURSE.

For more than 50 years past the Foxton Racing Club’s annual meeting has been looked forward to by many others than those who are devoted supporters of the sport of racing. Favoured always by fine weather, and offering as an additional incentive, the various natural characteristics such as its shady tree clad terraces and sheltered nooks and corners, it has resolved itself, in the minds of a large proportion of the open-air loving public, as' an ideal picnic ground. To cope with the added popularity that the club is gaining yearly, the executive committee have recently put in hand and executed a number of improvements, and alterations that have added considerably to the alleady manifold natural advantages that the course possesses, and visitors to the course recently have been strikingly impressed with what has been done for their comfort and convenience. The main alterations, and the ones that perhaps will lie the most readily appreciated, are 1 lie shifting hack and westward of the stewards’ stand one chain and the removal of the judge’s box from its position on the rails, to the* corner of the stewards’ stand. At past meetings the box has debarred the public from witnessing many a thrilling finish that has been fought out on the course and there is no doubt that in the future the timely action of the officials in removing the obstacle will he genuinely appreciated. The moving of the stewards’ stand has meant that considerably more space has been made available to lawn patrons, nearly a chain extra frontage being gained and the birdcage has also been enlarged and improved by means of a considerable amount of levelling having been done. Ini the interior of the stewards’ stand many needed alterations that will add to the smooth and even working of the staff on race days, have been carried out. From a racing point of view the main feature perhaps in Ihe improvements is that the club now has a six furlong straight start, ibis being brought about'by the additional room gained from the shif•ing of the stand. The straight is in full view of the main stand all the time, and is declared to he equal of the straight on any course outside the metropolitan centres. The view of public convenience has not been lost sight of during these extensive alterations for the sloping terraces in front of the tea kiosk have been re-graded to an easier slope and more seats provided thereon, and to improve the members’ entrance avenues of trees that in future years will contribute additional camping spots, have been planted from the road backwards.

The Foxton course has always been rightly regarded as a dry course and the committee have been at no small pains lately, during the excessive rainfall of the last two months, to ensure that its reputation shall he in no way impaired. To moot the requirements of any future excessive rainfall, a drain has been dug right round from the south-eastern side to the northeastern side of the course, and it lias already proved its effectiveness. That flic Foxton Motor Club’s motor cycle sports could lie held on the' course immediately on the heels of the deluge that Foxton and district has lately experienced, is a striking tribute to the dryness of the course and its wearing qualities. All these and many other incidental improvements bear eloquent testimony to) the fact that the committee of the club is fully alive to the charge they have on heir hands and are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the Foxton course will always hold premier place with the sport loving public as the “picnic course of New Zealand.” “Standard.”