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PRESS RELEASE

Kiwis are racing on-course for Christmas

More Kiwis than ever before have booked in to celebrate the festive season at the races this year. In 2011 Christmas at the Races was voted ‘Best Nationwide Christmas Party Option’ in the Corporate Events People’s Choice Awards, and in 2012 demand is indicating it warrants this title. Over half of the events have nearly completely sold out with some Clubs having to create totally new packages to cater to the demand.

By the end of September Wanganui Jockey Club had sold every hospitality package available - indoors and out. A new package has been created to cater for the traditionally late booking crowd. Bret Field, Operations Manager at Wanganui was delighted considering the local bookers were usually ‘late movers and in previous years bookings had only picked up in late September’.

And as it appears Wanganui Jockey Club is not the only Racing Club reaching for the sold out signs. For the third year running Geraldine Trotting Club (TC) in Canterbury is a sell-out event. Jackie Nelson from Geraldine TC said ‘this year we will have more marquees on-course than ever before – the course will be full and requests are still coming’. Tauranga, Awapuni (Manawatu), Te Rapa (Waikato) and Ascot Park (Invercargill) have also nearly sold out all their available hospitality packages.

So not only is the Christmas party tradition well and truly alive here in New Zealand, people who would not traditionally attend race meetings are heading on-course for the party. In 2011 Christmas at the Races hosted nearly 100,000 people, including 18,000 who had never set foot on a racecourse before. This indicates that Christmas at the Races has hit a niche like no other – it’s engaging more Kiwis in one of the oldest sports in history while simultaneously helping the Racing Club’s deliver profitable events.

Brand Manager, Louisa Ross is ‘looking forward to seeing the crowd’s on-course for the festivities,’ and urges those ‘thinking about taking their Christmas party to the races to secure their spot soon’.

More information about Christmas at the Races and other summer racing events can be found at theraces.co.nz.

ENDS