Manawatu fields transferred to second day on Thursday

It's been confirmed that the fields for today's abandoned meeting at Manawatu will be transferred to Thursday.

With Cyclone Gabrielle causing chaos across the North Island a national state of emergency was declared this morning.

That prompted the abandonment of the seven race programme which was due to start at 4.05pm.

"That was the final straw really," says Manawatu Harness Racing Club president Dan Lynch, "there is some uncertainty about what the weather will bring and we are erring on the side of caution."

"With floats coming from Taranaki and from up north and drivers coming in from the South Island we made the decision," says Lynch, "people's lives are more important than a race meeting."

At this stage the second day of the meeting will go ahead as planned, with HRNZ confirming that the fields originally set down for today will be transferred to Thursday.