Levin Racing Club is not alone when it comes to running race meetings. We face increasing costs and less income.

The cost in running a race meeting continues to rise while figures show the oncourse turnover across our last three meetings has declined, hence less income.

Your committee work very hard to control costs and will look at further reducing any expenses where ever possible”

It was a shame that our December meeting was abandoned after the first race due to the track being unsafe. We appear to have broken even for the meeting but we could have made a small profit because we had quite a few tents with companies having their Christmas break up parties oncourse.

To clarify a rumour going round the Otaki course a short time ago that Levin Racing Club was broke and that RACE was going to takeover our racing dates. I can assure you that this is only “Idle Gossip”. Levin Racing Club is in a good financial position. I also talked to RACE and they stated that it was the first they had heard about it.

Anna Clisby has resigned from her position as secretary to take up a full time position, but we are pleased to say that Anna has agreed to come onto the committee along with her husband Dave. Having Anna & Dave on the committee will be a huge plus for us.

It is pleasing to report that Lesley Haigh has agreed to carry out the event management side of the club once again.

Sponsorship continues to be hard to get and I would ask all members to help us in this area. If you think there is a person or a company that may sponsor, please contact Mark, Lesley or any committee person.

Bruce McCarrison

LRC President.

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Levin Track Trust principal Robbie Ker has reported that while the track is running smoothly there have been unforeseen delays in the construction of the lifestyle village.

Mr Ker described the delays as frustrating and was less than happy with the cooperation of some of the  Horowhenua District Council staff as he attempts to get the building of the village underway.

With more than a dozen previous villages successfully constructed in other provinces, and one other in Levin, Mr Ker was familiar with construction and consent processes. He said in dealing with design details with local authorities you could expect the odd hiccup, but in this instance he was becoming increasingly frustrated with the process.

Mr Ker said the game of tennis between himself and council staff in regard to construction details  was holding up construction and building timeline targets.

He was keen to get construction underway and provide some certainty for existing villa purchasers and prospective buyers.

“I’ve had good support from the Mayor (Brendon Duffy) but the lack of ability of some of the staff is the problem,” he said.

“The consent process can be a minefield but dealing with council staff here you feel as though you are banging your head against a wall.

On one construction detail Mr Ker said the council  had engaged an independent consultant who reported back and ratified the original construction plan.

“There are a number of final design issues we are still working through,” he said.   

“I’ll give you one example. Now they’ve come back and said they want a second entrance to the village in the advent of an emergency situation. It is not necessary. That has never been a requirement before.”

In the meantime, the site had undergone preparatory work with a boundary fencing, leveling of the earth and tree planting.

Mr Ker hoped to begin construction once the design details were finalised.  

On a more positive note Mr Ker said he was happy with the way the track was being run with jumpouts still attracting a profitable number of entries, while the number of day-to-day track users had also increased in recent months. 

“That side of it is going well,” he said.

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The Levin Racing Club wishes to congratulate the connections of Spiro in his meritorious effort to place second in two of New Zealand’s premier events.

Paddy and Sylivia Kay had their grand horse tuned to perfection for the Auckland Cup last month where he placed second, complimenting prior placings in both the Wellington and Taranaki Cups’ in his two starts prior.

It would be a special boost for Mr Kay as he had been laid low in recent times with illness, with son Michael now pitching in with the float driving and general duties in their early morning trip from Manakau to Levin training track. 

Spiro had developed into one of New Zealand’s leading stayers and would rate in the top bracket of  distance horses to have been trained at Levin and could be mentioned in the same breath as a former top horse trained by the Kay’s in Sapio, who was a million dollar earner.

The 3200m of the Auckland Cup represented Spiro’s first attempt at the ultimate test and further tries at the trip should prove no hardship.

As the reigning Levin Horse of the Year it is fair to say that the Levin Horse of the Year trophy, which is proudly donated each year by LRC committee member Paul Pearce, could almost be dropped off to the engraver already.

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Ohau studmaster Peter McKenzie has had his share of headline acts having bred and raced some fine horses over the years.

But latterly it his own progeny that has dominated international headlines with his son Brett McKenzie winning an Oscar at the Academy Awards last month.

An Oscar, no less!

Brett had shot to fame as one half of the Flight of the Conchords duo whose live performance and television comedy series had a cult following. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Flight fo the Conchords is due to tour New Zealand with tickets in hot demand.

The Academy Award was for Man or Muppet in the Best Original Song category, written for the Muppet Show and performed alongside Kermit the Frog.

While Spiro nearly pulled off a notable Wellington Cup double earlier this year, the winner Six O’Clock News did have a Levin connection.

Six O’Clock News was from the former top racemare Maurine who was bred and raced in Levin by the late Buster O’Malley.

It is family that has left a plethora of black-type winners including Maurine’s full-sister Maurita (second to Kiwi in the 1983 Wellington Cup) Anatomy, Aeroforce One, Marvelous Crown and Grand Flotilla.  

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Figures show that the trend of horse numbers declining after Christmas continued this year with a relatively quiet time reported at the Levin Training Centre after the festive season.

However, numbers had returned to normal now with many trainers bringing their charges back into work from spring and summer spells.

Committeeman Paul Pearce, the track official each morning, said on average there were 30 horses presented at the track during January and February this year and that was below average compared with the rest of the year.

Mr Pearce said horse numbers were now picking up noticeably.

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Levin Racing Club would like to congratulate life member and former champion jockey Bill Skelton and his wife Nella on celebrating his 80^th birthday recently.

The birthday celebration saw a gathering of the famous Skelton family in Levin whom the couple shared the day with, along with close friends.

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Congratulations must also go to Levin-based jockey Buddy Lammas and Phillipa Morris on their recent marriage.

They have more than one code covered as Phillipa was a registered trainer of greyhounds and along with her mother Carol Morris has a team handy dogs in their Ohau kennel.

The racebooks were on the mark. At the very next meeting following the wedding the stable runners were listed under Lammas/Morris.

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Please mark on your calendars our upcoming Quiz Night – Thursday May 17^th at 6.30pm at O’Malley’s Bar.  A notice is attached with this newsletter.

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Do you know anyone that would enjoy belonging to the Levin Racing Club?

The club is mindful of the importance of retaining existing members and also attracting new members to the club.

Membership application forms can be found by contacting the club or can also be downloaded from the club’s website levinracingclub.co.nz

To that end, the club also welcomes any input from members with ideas to improve or enhance the membership experience. All feedback is appreciated.  

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A wealthy racehorse owner gets very attached to his champion horse. After a highly successful

racing career it is retired to stud, where it is again very successful earning a fortune in service fees.

Sadly, the horse dies and the owner decides to give him a proper burial. He approaches the local Anglican minister who tells him he is only interested in saving human souls. He gets a similar response from the Catholic priest.

As a final resort he gets hold of the local Rabbi who tells him the same thing, to which the owner tells him that it was too bad for the synagoge as he was prepared to donate $100,000 for a job well done.

“Hold on a minute,” said the Rabbi, “You never told me it was a Jewish horse now did you?”.