Racing: Travel times spur move to Timaru

Alan Clark.
Alan Clark.
The attraction of being closer to Addington has convinced East Taieri trainer Alan Clark to buy a property near the Timaru racecourse.

Clark and his wife, Fiona, who have both spent most of their lives in Dunedin, have bought a property next to Phar Lap Raceway at Washdyke on the northern outskirts of Timaru.

''We're heading to 20 acres up there,'' Clark said.

''It gets us closer to Addington - all the 2yr-old trots are up there and you get sick of five-hour trips there and five hours back [to East Taieri].''

Clark, who has trained 52 winners since the early 1980s, has ramped up his operation in recent years. Constar was the first trotter to make her mark for Clark, winning six races as a 2yr-old in 2006.

Clark adopted a similar path with The Fiery Ginga, who won seven races as a 2yr-old from 18 starts, and has now won 24 races from 100 starts.

Mr Majestic, a maiden trotter lining up at Ascot Park on Saturday, is Constar's second foal.

Clark said the move would be some time away, as there was still some work to do on the property.

''We'll just start again with new barns,'' he said.

''It's a completely bare block now. We took all the fences off it.

''We've had the place seeded, so we need to start fencing and start building barns.''

 

Add a Comment