History

Whilst the first race meeting held in Taranaki was January 1st 1849, the Taranaki Jockey Club wasn't established until 1876.

In 1999 the Jockey Club changed it's name to the Taranaki Racing Club and at the same time after a public competition named it's New Plymouth race track - "Pukekura Raceway", named after the adjacent world renowned Pukekura Park.

In 2009 the Taranaki Racing Club was joined by the Opunake Racing Club to form Taranaki Thoroughbred Racing with additional Opunake funds as the catalyst, Taranaki Thoroughbred Racing has spent over $3.4m in elevating Pukekura Raceway to a Strategic Racing and Training Centre by the completion of a new $1m Sand Training Track and three state of the art Training Complexes complete with Horse Walkers.

About Us

Taranaki Thoroughbred Racing race now fifteen times per annum at Pukekura Raceway.  The course is about to be widened to facilitate the increase in the number of meetings at Pukekura Raceway.

Taranaki Thoroughbred Racing run two Premier days, the Hooker Pacific Taranki Cup day in February and the Waikato Stud Opunake Cup day in July.  They also have plans to attemps to get the Interprovincial raceday in August upgraded to Premier sometime in the future.  The club prides itself in being one of the most innovative clubs in New Zealand and provides a provincial racetrack and racing of the very highest standard.

The 1600m track with a 375m straight is not a large roomy track and as such in many races the pressure is applied to the leaders well before the home turn with many back runners sweeping into the race from the 600m mark.