Rt Hon Helen Clark - NZ Bloodstock Racing Hall of Fame gala dinner, Ellerslie

This is a great night for New Zealand's racing community.

---------------------------------

Rt Hon Winston Peters, the Minister for Racing; Gerald Fell, Chair of the New Zealand Bloodstock Racing Hall of Fame; Hall of Fame Board Members; Ladies and Gentlemen.

Thank you for inviting me to be here to celebrate the inauguration of the New Zealand Bloodstock Racing Hall of Fame.

This is a great night for New Zealand's racing community.

I know a tremendous amount of work has gone into establishing the Racing Hall of Fame, and that, in time, it is hoped to have the Hall housed in a new Racing Museum complex.

This evening we celebrate fourteen true champions of the turf - both human and equine. We have many achievers in New Zealand racing who deserve recognition. The only challenge is to choose who of the many should be honoured as the inaugural inductees.

Meanwhile, some of our racing greats have already been honoured by the Australian Racing Hall of Fame:

Of the five inaugural horse inductees in the Australian Hall of Fame, three were New Zealand-bred: the very big three of Carbine, Tulloch, and Phar Lap.

More recent inductees in the Australian Hall have included Sunline, Might and Power, Galilee, and Rising Fast. Indeed Sunline was not only Kiwi bred, but also Kiwi owned and trained.

And let's remember that our own Sir Patrick Hogan was also inducted into the Australian Hall of Fame last year.

While it's wonderful that New Zealand champions have been recognised by our friends across the Tasman, it's important that we give proper recognition here at home.

From tonight, with our very own Racing Hall of Fame, we will be doing just that.

I wish the Racing Hall of Fame a successful future, and look forward to the day when it can take pride of place in a New Zealand Museum of Racing.

ENDS

© Scoop Media