The 2016-17 racing calendar has been released, with Waikato Racing Club getting 17 meetings - 12 of which will be Saturday race-days. 

Waikato Racing Club will have two Premier race-days, 12 Feature days and the rest will be Industry days.

The Te Rapa track will have at least one meeting per month, including Cambridge Jockey Club's April meeting.

There are 310 race-meetings planned for next year on 52 tracks throughout the country. Te Rapa will be the third busiest racetrack in the country, just behind Riccarton and Ellerslie.

There are 61 racing club's in this country, with half having less than two race-meetings.

There are 23 race clubs having only one race-day, and another 8 with two race-days planned.

Wellington Racing Club is the only club to have all their race-meetings (11) scheduled on a Saturday.

NZTR have cut sixteen race meetings for next season, with seven meetings from the South Island, five from the central districts and four from the northern region's programme.

"That is in line with the Strategic Plan released by the board in August of last year," said New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing's general manager of racing and handicapping, Matthew Hall stated intheinformant.co.nz this week.

"We have to cater for the horse population and maintain average field sizes and also provide a better platform for distribution of prize-money.

"A minimum of $20,000 (outside of maidens) for feature days is made possible by fewer races."

"We are the first to acknowledge that the average field sizes in the south have been terrific in the last 12 months and we will continue to monitor that," Hall said.

"We think the northern region in winter was over-catered for and, again, we will continue to look at that.

"There has been a two to four percent reduction in the foal crop and by taking meetings out now there will hopefully be a three to five-year correction time to address some of the funding challenges and increases across all levels.

"We need to maintain field sizes and what I am stressing to all clubs is that there is no desire from us to make further dramatic reductions in meetings for the next two or three years."