Tuesday, March 24 proved to be a volatile day in the Down Under racing industry, as the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic started to affect live racing.
Harness Racing New South Wales issued an urgent announcement on Tuesday. In its announcement, HRNSW stated that it was ‘monitoring the health of a person who was in attendance at the Penrith Harness meeting on Thursday, March 19 and who had previously been in direct contact with a person from outside the industry who has confirmed to have contracted the COVID-19 virus.’ Given the turn of events, HRNSW advised that racing that had been scheduled through Thursday, March 26 has been abandoned until the results of medical testing become available.
On Tuesday, Harness Racing Victoria (HRV) announced that it was suspending the card of live racing that had been scheduled for Bendigo. “Today Harness Racing New South Wales (HRNSW) reported they had established that a participant at the Penrith meeting held on Thursday, March 19 had been in contact with a person now confirmed to have tested positive for COVID-19,” HRV CEO Dayle Brown said. For more information, click here.
Just as what HRV did with the Bendigo card, Racing and Wagering Western Australia (RWWA) made the decision to abandon the Tuesday live program at Gloucester Park. The cancellation was due to the aforementioned contact that had been made with the COVID-19-positive individual.
Harness Racing South Australia (HRSA) also made an announcement regarding altered procedures at Globe Derby Park, specifically limits on horses and races, a change in the race-date schedule.
Australian Racing Gold regrettably announced on Tuesday that racing events leading up to the May 9 National Finals in Victoria had to be postponed due to prohibitions in regard to movement across state borders. Contingency plans are currently being addressed.
On Tuesday, HRSA announced that some notable stakes races which had been scheduled for May have been deferred to a date to be determined due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For further information, click here.
On Tuesday, Racing Queensland announced further measures to ensure business continuity of harness racing operations in response to COVID-19. The measures include some staff working from home, restricted on-course access, reduced field sizes, changes to sign-in procedures, race-colour restrictions and social distancing measures. For complete info, click here.
It had previously been announced that live harness racing in New Zealand would be ceasing for a four-week period, effective Tuesday, March 24. For complete information, click here.
(With files from harness.org)