What the move to red light means for racing

NZTR chief executive Bernard Saundry. Photo / Getty

Racing bosses will call on increased awareness from industry participants to help keep racing going as the country goes back in the red traffic light settings.

The move to red doesn't in itself put any race meeting in jeopardy as racing continued last time some regions were in red, just with reduced or in some cases no crowds.

But with Omicron expected to spread more quickly, racing could be in danger because it is a close knit community with jockeys and drivers in particular spending a lot of time in the same room on race days.

With up to 25 jockeys and drivers often crammed into their usually small raceday rooms together, should one attend a race meeting while infected Omicron could easily spread through their ranks.

One outbreak in those small and select groups could close racing down in parts of the country and New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing will talk with jockeys' association leaders on Monday to put systems in place to avoid that.

"We are very aware that an outbreak among the jockeys could affect our ability to hold meetings," says NZTR chief executive Bernard Saundry.

"So we are investigating whether we can move to Rapid Antigen Testing before meetings to ensure that jockeys in particular are negative before they enter the track.

"That is one measure we may be able to take but we are also asking the participants, again with an emphasis on jockeys and trainers, to be more careful when they aren't at the races.

"If that means being more diligent with things like mask wearing, what gatherings they attend and how many people they are around in the community, that is also important and will all help us keep the industry going."

Anybody attending a race meeting in all three codes must already have a vaccine pass, although a few well-known racing names have decided against being vaccinated and now unable to attend meetings.

It is major clubs planning their biggest carnivals who face the greatest challenges, with Ellerslie officials thrilled the level red announcement wasn't made two days earlier which would have meant a greatly reduced or even crowdless Karaka Million night.

Ellerslie will now have to wait to see whether mega meetings like Derby Day on March 5 and the Auckland Cup on March 13 can have normal crowds if Auckland is back at orange by then or whether, like Boxing Day, they are restricted to around 900 people in groups of 100.

Alexandra Park have little hope of a return to orange before their new premier meeting - the Harness Millions on February 12 - and while they may have to scrap their family-themed entertainment they can easily host around 500 people should they choose to do so.

Te Rapa hold their Legends Day the same day and will almost certainly have similar restrictions.

The most obvious loser from the red setting coming into effect is Trentham, who will now hold their biggest meeting of the season, Wellington Cup Day, without anything like its normal massive crowd.