Last dance for Avondale? Race track celebrates 136 years as uncertainty remains over future
Thursday, 16 July 2026
Race fans turned out to mark 136 years at Avondale Racecourse with its future up in the air.
No more races are scheduled for the historic track at this point.
Discussions are underway among various stakeholders about Avondale’s future.
Racing fans were out in force at Avondale Racecourse on Wednesday for what might just have been the Auckland race track’s final meet.
The meet, marking 136 years of racing at the track, is the last scheduled race meeting at Avondale for the foreseeable future, with no further meets set down for the track at this point.
The move reflects a “long-standing direction” set out by New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR), which “identified racing activity” finishing at Avondale at the end of the 2025/26 season.
NZTR is set to consolidate future racing events in Auckland at Ellerslie and Pukekohe, a decision it said has been “known for several years” and forms part of a “broader strategic approach to the industry’s venue network”.
Official racing has been held at Avondale Racecourse since 1890, and the 35-hectare site is also home to the Avondale Markets, which have drawn thousands every Sunday since opening in the 1970s.
The Avondale Jockey Club (AJC) owns the site, with the inner sports fields leased to Auckland Council for community sport, including rugby, football, and cricket.
However, with no more races scheduled, questions have emerged around the future of the land, a topic that was the talk of punters at the meet.
Lisa Truttman has been coming to Avondale since she was a child. “It’s been a part of my close family ties going back to the 60s.”
She told Stuff that today’s meet was “very sad”, but that crowds had fallen away since the late 1990s.
“[There] used to be masses of people here. The memory I have as a kiddie, I got lost in the sea of legs and, at the end of the day, all of the tarseal [was] white with discarded tote tickets, absolute streams of them. It was huge.”
Truttman said there were still many unknowns about what the future held for the venue.
“I am hoping that the racecourse is not totally taken up with housing and I hope that some community use is actually accounted for as well,” she said.
Another racegoer, Jan Sanders, told Stuff she was hoping it wasn’t the “last hurrah” for Avondale, adding that she would “miss it” if it went.
“Until the fat lady sings we won’t know. Until the politics are all thought through and talked through, we won’t know what is going to happen here.”
Sanders mentioned a “class divide” existed between Avondale Racecourse and Ellerslie. “Avondale, these days, doesn’t offer the human facilities that Ellerslie has to offer; however, that isn’t necessarily the be all and end all.”
She said it was therefore important to still have a racecourse in Avondale. “This is a good horse facility, but for political reasons it looks like it may well be removed from the racing world in New Zealand.”
Discussions around venue’s future remain ongoing
The future of Avondale is being worked through by various stakeholders, with NZTR CEO Matt Ballesty telling Stuff that “while there are no plans for racing to return to the venue, discussions regarding the future of the site remain ongoing”.
“NZTR continues to work with the Avondale Jockey Club and engage with key stakeholders on the best long-term outcome for the racing industry and the wider community,” he said.
The jockey club is at pains, however, to point out that it still sees a future for racing at Avondale, with the standing president saying the mood has been good despite the uncertainty.
Andrew Skinner told Stuff on Tuesday that the future of the racecourse was “inextricably linked” to the future of thoroughbred racing in the northern region and that the club looked forward to participating in discussions with the racing industry.
“The AJC wishes to proactively work with the racing industry to determine the best possible outcome for New Zealand Racing. This should be a common aim for the whole racing industry and we hope we can have a constructive dialogue in the near future.”
Skinner said there was “naturally” some concern about the venue’s “uncertain future”, but that the club felt “confident that racing will continue”.
The club is involved in “collaborative work” with TAB NZ to help “determine the future” of the racecourse, with a “full range of options” under consideration, including long-term retention, medium-term retention, and immediate sale of the land.
Skinner had previously said a range of potential land use scenarios were being explored aimed at “maximising long-term value for the racing industry” while also “delivering positive outcomes for the community”.
Community lobbying for green space
Members of the Avondale community have already been lobbying to ensure that some form of green space is included in any future plans for the land.
In March, the Whau Local Board put forward a notice of motion calling on Auckland Council’s governing body to buy the land so it can be retained as a public asset.
The board called the acquisition of the racecourse a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity and requested that the governing body agree to allocate funding in the next annual budget to purchase the entire site to secure the open space.
The local board’s position has the backing of the Avondale Business Association (ABA), which previously told Stuff that the racecourse is already a “significant multi-use asset” that supports sports, markets, and community activity.
ABA chair Marcus Amosa said securing the racecourse in public ownership provided certainty and opened the door for “integrated planning that aligns open space, housing growth and town centre development in a coordinated way”.
Those decisions though, are for the future. Today it was about the racing, racing that still excites even the most passionate fans.