Racing: Major races set to go ahead after lockdown move

Aegon will still be competing in Australia. Photo / File

Some flexible thinking from thoroughbred bosses is set to save any major races being lost to the Covid-19 alert level 4 extension that will see the industry on hold until Wednesday.

Yesterday's Government announcement means no racing is allowed until Wednesday, and longer in the Auckland region.

That means the star-studded Te Rapa gallops meeting, others at Awapuni and Ashburton today and an open-class harness meeting at Addington on Sunday all fall victim to lockdown this weekend.

But NZTR will push the Te Rapa meeting back to next Saturday to ensure the $110,000 Foxbridge Plate and $80,000 Breeders Stakes are run, which will mean the first Group 1 meeting of the season at Hastings also goes back a week from September 11 to September 18.

Trainers are reluctant to race stars like Avantage and Tavi Mac just a week apart, especially at this stage of the season, preferring a two-week gap at least between races for elite thoroughbreds.

NZTR and their clubs have been able to accommodate that because there was a three-week gap between the first two Group 1 race dates of the season at Hastings, providing them the option to put the first day at Hastings back and still run Te Rapa with that two-week gap between the two.

The major race day circuit will now be Te Rapa (Foxbridge Plate) on September 4, Hastings (Tarzino Trophy) on September 18 and the last two days at Hastings, the Windsor Park Plate meeting and the Livamol meeting, remaining on October 2 and 16, giving a consistent two-week gap between the biggest races.

Gallops and greyhound racing will resume on Wednesday while harness racing could be back up and running by Thursday.

With no domestic racing today New Zealand punters could now turn their attention to Caulfield in Melbourne where outstanding Kiwi pair Aegon and Probabeel resume for the season.

Aegon is rated between an $8-12 chance, depending where you bet, in the A$1million Memsie Stakes while Probabeel will start favourite in the A$200,000 Cockram Stakes, with the meeting set to be run on a Good 4 track.

The rail goes back to the true at Caulfield after being out 4m and then 8m for the last two meetings there and that could favour horses drawn to be on the speed, so it is less than ideal for the poorly-drawn Kiwi pair.

Meanwhile, star New Zealand three-year-old Sword Of State is out of today's San Domenico Stakes at Kembla Grange in New South Wales after the combination of a wet track and slightly off blood report convinced trainer Jamie Richards the colt was better off waiting to make his Australian debut.