Horse racing in the Waikato is a $505 million industry employing more than 6200 people and it is about to undergo radical change, reports senior writer Mary Anne Gill.
Grail Seeker, during her exhibition gallop at Te Rapa yesterday, is building towards next Saturday’s Gr.1 BCD Group Sprint (1400m) at the same venue. The four-year-old daughter of Iffraaj has been one of New Zealand racing’s brightest stars this season, winning the Gr.1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m) and Gr.1 Telegraph (1200m) in her only two starts. Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images)
Ultimate Focus wins at the Waikato Thoroughbred Racing Cambridge Synthetic Track in May 2024. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Waikato Business News – February 2025
When Andrew ‘Butch’ Castles says Waikato Thoroughbred Racing’s property hunt is the biggest search for racecourse land in more than a century, he’s not exaggerating.
Within eight to 12 years – all going to plan – 145ha of prime Waikato land in Hamilton, Cambridge and Te Awamutu will be sold for residential and commercial development.
In their place, the super club – born out of a merger between Te Rapa, Cambridge and Waipā racing clubs two years ago – will have a new greenfields’ site somewhere in the Waikato.
Waikato Thoroughbred Racing chief executive Andrew Castles at Te Rapa Raceway in Hamilton.
“We want to flush out some property that hasn’t been considered (for racing)”
“It will certainly be industry shaping and defining for generations to come whatever decision we make will have a massive impact on future generations that look to pursue a recreational interest or a professional interest in racing in the area,” says Castles.
Waikato Thoroughbred Racing’s chief executive knows he has a big job ahead of him but having passed the first hurdle – a vote by members last year to investigate a single fit-for-purpose site for racing and training in the Waikato – he has the bit between his teeth.
“We want to flush out some property that hasn’t been considered (for racing),” he says.
Champagne Princess and jockey Sam Weatherley win the opening race on the Cambridge synthetic track in May 2021.
Peter Kelly
Hamilton rural specialist Peter Kelly has the task of finding between 125-200ha in a triangle starting north of Hamilton, down to Te Awamutu and across to Cambridge.
“There are some pieces of land that tick a number of boxes that are not quite in that area, but close to it,” says Castles.
“It’s really a matter of making sure that horses, people, race day guests and everyone have the best way possible of getting there.
“You wouldn’t want to be down a long narrow road, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be off the Waikato Expressway. Transport links are important but there are a number of other criteria.
“I’m not sure we will find everything that ticks every box, but it will be weighted, we’ll look for the best one that ticks the most boxes and fits the most criteria.”
Waipa Racing Club in Te Awamutu
Tenders will be considered next month and the final proposal back to members for a special meeting in September.
If approved, then the clock starts ticking.
On the market will go 34ha in Te Awamutu where Waipā Racing Club used to race but is now a training facility used by 120 horses on a regular basis. Its underlying residential zone makes it prime for housing.
It would be the first to go given courses at Cambridge and Te Rapa would still be needed for racing.
The 61ha in Cambridge is already subject to what Castles calls “urban creep” – housing developments are eating into land and roads where once horses were king, but which now compete with speeding cars down Racecourse Road.
Te Rapa looking west to the railway line, Frankton and beyond to Raglan. Prime commercial and residential real estate in Hamilton. Photo: Supplied.
Cambridge is the Southern Hemisphere’s largest thoroughbred training centre with 1200 horses regularly at work on the synthetic track – opened in 2021 – and 60-70 licence holders.
Any new facility would have to cater for them. Castles says 150-200ha would have trainer allotments as part of the development.
Very few horses train at Te Rapa and its 50ha – down from the original 160ha purchased in the 1920s – comprises 6.5ha of mixed use residential and the rest major facilities. The venue holds 20 race days a year, its track is one of the best in the country and the international grandstand has hosted patrons who watch the country’s best thoroughbreds.
Good Brothers winning on Cambridge’s synthetic track. Photo: Kenyon Wright
There are detractors to the greenfields’ plan who have yet to show their hands.
“This is bigger than just Waikato thoroughbred racing, this is an industry decision,” says Castles.
“Financially it will be too big for us to deal with on our own so we will need support from all sorts of industry bodies. The ideal would be that we go ahead with the support of the whole industry.”
But first …… find the right piece of land.
“That’s why we’re doing it in this fashion. It’s all very well to have flash drawings, vision and ideas but there’s no point in finding the right piece of land and finding out it can’t be consented to race on.”
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Cambridge apprentice jockey Jess Allen, who won the Gold Cup on Enchanted Elle at the Taumarunui Racing club’s meeting on the Te Rapa course, is pictured aboard Kai on the Cambridge Jockey Club’s synthetic track. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
