Racing: Ellerslie favourite to host New Zealand Derby on Monday nzherald.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nzherald.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Dry fields as far as the eye can see near Te Awamutu. The long range forecast from NIWA indicates long periods of dry, warm weather continuing through April.
A dried-up district in Waikato is moving to a level three water restriction, and unless steady rainfall tops up the local catchment an increase to level four could be just weeks away. The Matamata-Piako District move to level three on Thursday, March 4, meaning a district-wide sprinkler ban will be in force for all water users – Te Aroha, Matamata, Morrinsville, Te Poi, Tahuna, Waharoa and Hinuera. Without significant rain to replenish water supplies, Matamata-Piako District Council’s water and wastewater manager Karl Pavlovich said council needs everyone to conserve as much water as possible, so the district can get through the coming months.
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If the New Zealand Derby is held at Ellerslie Racecourse, it will be without a crowd unless Auckland makes an unlikely move to level 1.
Racing Administrators remain hopeful that Ellerslie will be the venue for this year’s Group I Vodafone New Zealand Derby (2400m), but a call as to whether the bumper race meeting can proceed at Auckland’s premier course on Sunday will be made as late as Friday afternoon. Should Alert Level status be retracted to Level 2 by the government as hoped, the Derby will be run at Ellerslie, albeit with a limited volume of people on course.
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