The work is being carried out by TW Group under the management of Australian racetrack and sports grounds specialists Evergreen Turf.

Balcombe said that once the replacement turf is laid, a turf settlement process before horses can be worked on the bend and jump-outs can be held to test the condition of the track before racing can restart.

It will enable racing for approximately three seasons until a new racing facility is established on a new site on the southern fringes of Flaxmere.

The major Spring Carnival races have, since the sudden cancellation last year, been run at other tracks, including $550,000 Group 1 feature the 2025 Livamol Classic, which was run at Ellerslie, in Auckland, last Saturday.

Problems for racing in the Central Districts and Hawke’s Bay-Gisborne, including the shutting down of racing at Waipukurau, Wairoa and Gisborne five years ago, have been exacerbated by the troubled reopening of premier Palmerston North track Awapuni.

It’s recommissioning after a closure of 19 months for reconstruction lasted just one race and one slip of a horse in April.

Meanwhile, racing will return to Hawke’s Bay on November 16 with the first of three cup meetings on the Waipukurau track, which has not seen the gallops since the track’s licence to race was cancelled in 2020.

It has continued being used for training and jumpouts, but the licence is being reinstated as a temporary measure for the upcoming $35,000 Waipukurau Cup meeting, the Wairoa Cup meeting on February 15, and the Hawke’s Bay Cup meeting on April 26.

Doug Laing has been a newspaper reporter for more than 50 years, most if it in Hawke’s Bay covering most aspects of news, sports, and, occasionally racing.