{"id":777026710,"date":"2025-05-21T08:42:16","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T11:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777026710"},"modified":"2026-04-21T22:46:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T01:46:33","slug":"tab-nz-releases-2025-26-new-zealand-racing-calendar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/tab-nz-releases-2025-26-new-zealand-racing-calendar","title":{"rendered":"TAB NZ releases 2025-26 New Zealand racing calendar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This year&#8217;s calendar comprises 1,020 meetings and 10,216 races.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>New Zealand.-\u00a0<strong>TAB NZ<\/strong> has confirmed its\u00a0racing calendar for the\u00a02025\/26 season.\u00a0It will\u00a0offer <strong>1,020 meetings<\/strong>: 308 thoroughbred meetings, 304 harness meetings and 408 greyhound meetings with 10,216 individual races to be run across the three codes. That&#8217;s an increase of 24 meetings, but a decrease of 77 races.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The season will include the <strong>World Drivers Championship<\/strong>, to be held by Harness Racing New Zealand in November and a return to a full season of racing at Awapuni in the thoroughbred category. The calendar includes an increase in the number of <strong>Friday and Sunday races<\/strong>, from 33 and 64 to 49 and 68, respectively. There will also be more dual thoroughbred racing on Sundays, with the number of events rising from 14 to 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>TAB NZ reported that racing at Hastings will be temporarily halted for the 2025\u201326 season and racing at Waipukurau reinstated on a conditional basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tim Gillespie<\/strong>, chair of the TAB NZ Dates Committee, said: &#8220;We have welcomed the pragmatic and open-minded approach all three codes have brought to this calendar process in recent months. We&#8217;ve had the opportunity to reflect on what was a positive summer thoroughbred racing feature calendar and have also taken steps to amend where we feel appropriate to ensure the growth of New Zealand racing and \u2014 in turn \u2014 the customer base through TAB and betcha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The Committee has appreciated the solutions focus that the three codes have brought to the table, along with their knowledge and understanding of the broadcast and on-course servicing requirements of Entain.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>See also:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/tasmanian-greens-launch-petition-calling-for-a-ban-on-greyhound-racing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tasmanian Greens launch petition calling for a ban on greyhound racing<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This year&#8217;s calendar comprises 1,020 meetings and 10,216 races.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":777029784,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"TAB NZ has unveiled its 2025\/26 racing calendar for New Zealand, featuring 1,020 meetings and 10,216 races across thoroughbred, harness, and greyhound codes, marking a slight increase in meetings but a decrease in total races. The calendar incorporates strategic adjustments to race days and venues, including a return to Awapuni and temporary halt at Hastings, aimed at fostering growth in New Zealand racing and expanding the customer base via TAB and betcha. Stakeholders, including Entain, have collaborated on broadcast and on-course servicing requirements.","focusai_entities":"TAB NZ, Harness Racing New Zealand, Tim Gillespie, Entain, Tasmanian Greens","focusai_location":"New Zealand, Awapuni, Hastings, Waipukurau, Tasmania","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.7), operator_casino (0.9), affiliate_publisher (0.7), product_ux (0.7), marketing_crm (0.8), investor_analyst (0.8), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Projected GGR Impact?","query":"What is the projected Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) impact of these calendar adjustments, particularly concerning the increased frequency of Friday and Sunday races?"},{"label":"Player Acquisition Strategy?","query":"How will the strategic adjustments to the racing calendar, including venue changes and specific event inclusions, influence TAB NZ's player acquisition and retention metrics?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,155],"tags":[24207,4256,338],"class_list":["post-777026710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-sports-betting-news","tag-entain","tag-horse-racing","tag-new-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777026710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777026710"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777026710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777026719,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777026710\/revisions\/777026719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777029784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777026710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777026710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777026710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}