NEWS
Important Information for Sunday
With the country and all race meetings still being held under Level 2 there is some important information for Sunday that you need to be aware of.
THIS MEETING IS CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC
All course entrants must be either an trainer, driver, owner or support services/officials. Owners are allowed to bring their family, but the general public are excluded. There will be a checkpoint at the entrance where our team will have a list of all owners with horses entered. If you are not on the list (or with someone on the list) you will be turned away. All people entering the course will be required to complete a health questionnaire and sign in - either by being checked off the owners list, scanning the QR code in the Covid-19 app or entering your details on a sign in sheet. Once you've been signed in you will be given a wristband to wear for the day.
ENTRANCE AND PARKING
There will only be 1 entrance to the course - the main paved driveway. The checkpoint will be located about 50m down the driveway. Once you have passed through the checkpoint you will be directed by club officials to parking near the old tote building. The large grass carparking area will be closed and there will be no access to this area. THERE WILL ALSO BE NO PARKING ALONG THE RAIL.
FACILITIES
The stewards stand and Mt Hutt lounge will be available for owners to use. Owners will be allowed into the stabling area to see their horses. Winning owners will be allowed into the birdcage for a photo with their horse.
FOOD AND DRINK
The Methven Pubs team will have their food caravan on site from 11am until approximately 2pm. They will be serving Kai Pai Pies, Beef Burgers, Hot Chips, Hot Dogs, Churros, Bottled Water and Soft Drinks. THERE WILL BE NO ALCOHOL AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE. You may BYO alcohol. You may also BYO food. However, this race meeting is being classed as an industry event and will not be our usual family atmosphere picnic event. You will not be able to bring along chairs, gazebos etc and set up along the rail.
THERE WILL BE NO BETTING FACILITIES ON COURSE
Unfortunately we won't have TOTE staff or self-service terminals on site so you will need to either place your bets before you come, or use your phone to place bets.
We are very happy that race meetings are allowed to continue under Level 2 and that we can welcome owners onto the course. However, this is not a usual Methven event and we ask that owners please respect the rules. We are hopeful that we will be under Level 1 by our October Cup meeting and can welcome the public back on course. However, if we are still racing under Level 2 in October we need to ensure that we follow all of the rules for this meeting so that we can have owners on course again in October.
Trainers Tips!
Committee member Nigel Armstrong headed out to North Canterbury today to talk to a few trainers about their runners' chances on Sunday. Thanks to the following trainers for taking time to talk to us today.
Jack Harrington - Gold Star Racing
Amber Lethaby - Lethaby Racing Stables
Matt Purvis
Craig Edmonds
John Dunn - Robert Dunn Trotting Stables
We look forward to seeing these horses and their owners on track on Sunday 13 September
*Reminder this meeting is closed to the public and only open to Trainers, Drivers, Stablehands and Owners of horses engaged on the day along with Club and racing officials.
Methven receives Impressive Nominations!
With 208 nominations received we're extremely happy that we've been allowed to put on two more races than originally planned and we will now have 12 races with full fields in most of them - half of our races have emergencies in place. We look forward to seeing owners, trainers and drivers of horses engaged on track on Sunday. We've been working closely with Harness Racing New Zealand on our obligations and requirements on the day and will be posting more information later in the week.
First Grass Track Trials of the Season
The Mount Hutt Trotting Club held the first grass track trials for the season at Methven on Saturday. We spoke to a few trainers and drivers to see which runners they might be looking to race at Methven on Sunday and how the track was feeling at the trials.
To check out how well some of the mentioned runners performed you can see the trials vidoes on the HRNZ website here: https://infohorse.hrnz.co.nz/datahrs/trials/090570tr.htm
Grass Tracker Opener - 13 September 2020
We are very excited to be back racing at Methven next Sunday 13 September, although disappointed that under Level 2 we can not have our usual crowds on track. The meeting will not be open to the general public and only trainers, drivers and stablehands associated wtih horses racing on the day, owners of horses racing on the day along with their partners and children, and race meeting officals will be allowed on course. Owners don't need to register ahead of time - the club will have a list of owners with horses engaged at the meeting that we will check you off against. Partners and children of owners will need to either sign in on a register, or scan the QR code in the Covid-19 app.
We'll be bring you interviews with trainers, drivers, owners and club officials over the coming week in the lead up to the meeting so stay tuned.
