Horse racing: Three codes scramble to minimise spread in racing community

Jockeys will be stopped from travelling inter-island to race for the next two weeks as the latest step in horse racing's fight to keep the industry going under the cloud of Omicron.

Jockeys will be stopped from travelling inter-island to race for the next two weeks as the latest step in horse racing's fight to keep the industry going under the cloud of Omicron.

That was one of the major developments on Monday as the officials of the three racing codes scrambled to minimise the spread of the most contagious Covid variant which is widely expected to take hold in the community soon.

Both horse and greyhound racing can continue under the red traffic light setting but racing bosses are working through protocols to ensure they have the participants needed to actually hold race meetings.

Most crucial among them are jockeys, because there are so few riders in the country and for reasons of weight, skill and licencing they are hardest to replace.

But keeping racing going also means having enough other skilled staff like Racing Integrity Board members and starting attendants, two groups which are also small in number and hard to find replacements for.

New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing has already moved to keep the pools of jockeys in the North and South Island separate, with no inter-island travel for work allowed for the next two weeks.

That should at least help stop a nationwide spread inside the jockey's riding ranks if one or more riders become infected and in a worst-case scenario if racing was threatened by a short-term lockdown in one island it could continue in the other, providing the industry with crucial income.

"That is the first step but we are also now working on a new testing regime for race day participants, particularly jockeys," says NZTR chief executive Bernard Saundry.

"We are looking to acquire the number of Rapid Antigen Tests needed to have testing before meetings but also looking at saliva testing in the interim.

"Things are changing very quickly but racing will continue and we will do our absolute best to keep that going and keep the participants safe.

"But we also want them to help with that. To look after themselves and make good decisions so they can stay safe and still be able to go to work and earn a living."

Saundry says the decision on whether to allow race fans at meetings, in separated pods of 100, will be left to the individual clubs based of the resources they have to safely achieve that.

"Wellington have told us they will be doing that for their Cup Day this Saturday but whether that means any public are allowed we don't know yet."

Waikato Racing Club chief executive Andrew Castles says Te Rapa are planning to do the same for their huge group one meeting at Te Rapa on February 12, providing there are no changes to Government regulations before then.

Alexandra Park host their new Harness Millions meeting that night but boss Mauro Barsi says a family fun day event leading into the race night will be canned.

"We were going to hold an event to welcome people to The Park and engage some of the retail outlets in our new developments but we will delay t-at until the settings change," says Barsi.

"The Harness Million is a huge meeting and we definitely aim to have people there but how many will depend on any changes to the 100-person per room rules." New Zealand Bloodstock is another major industry player having to plan for all developments as they prepare to host their standardbred sales starting at Karaka on February 13 and their much larger thoroughbred sales for six days starting March 7.

"Both sales are definitely going ahead at this stage and they will be with the yearlings here on the grounds," says NZB managing director Andrew Seabrook.

"We are working on contingencies this week to manage how many people can be in our indoor areas but we are confident, again unless anything major changes at Government level, we will be able to have buyers here as well as all vendors and staff."