Lighting upgrade on the way for Addington

Addington Raceway, home of the IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup, is one of New Zealand’s premier harness racing venues, and it is set to get a major lighting upgrade.

The New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club has been signaling the need for improvements to its lighting system and funding for the upgrade has now been approved.

"Since night harness racing was introduced at Addington in 1963, the lights have only received one upgrade which was completed prior to the March 1995 Interdominion and that time has come around again," says NZMTC Chair John Hartnell.

"But it is a significant investment and we have had to explore numerous funding options."

The majority of the money will come from the TAB NZ Rejuvenation Fund with the Harness Racing New Zealand Board committing to make up the shortfall.

"It is a substantial project," says HRNZ Chief Executive Brad Steele, "but it needs to go ahead."

"We have launched the "Future Starts Now" strategy for the 2024-25 season and one of the key pillars driving success is the "Friday Night Lights" (FNL) concept."

FNL is an Entain initiative aimed at "owning" Friday nights by having dual domestic harness meetings at either Addington, Alexandra Park, or Cambridge Raceway.

"Huge resources have been put into this by Trackside and the new lighting upgrade at Addington will ensure high broadcast standards are continued and that the country's most high profile and most utilised track stays at the top of its game."

Hartnell was also keen to point out that the lighting upgrade is exactly the sort of project the TAB NZ's rejuvenation fund was set up for.

"TAB NZ has been with us all the way in this project and it's been a real collaboration between the three parties to the point where the upgrade will now go ahead," says Hartnell.

Details of the new lighting system, including costs and final design, are still being worked through though it is hoped completion will be early 2025.