The Covid-19 pandemic has allowed Whanganui's Hatrick Raceway to make a lot of history, and that will continue on Friday night.
After being the second New Zealand sporting venue allowed to resume action under level 3 on May 5, only eight minutes behind the first venue, the greyhound track atAddington, and then hosting the historic 12-race clean sweep by trainer Lisa Cole last week, Hatrick will now become one of the first venues to welcome back spectators.
"We can confirm we're opening to the public on Friday night," said Wanganui GRC operations manager Paul Freeman.
"We know what the Covid rules are around restaurants, that's obviously people seated and things like that.
"By then we'll know more around what the rules are with bars operating.
"From Hatrick's point of view, we're a bar and a restaurant, and we'll be abiding by all the Government Covid rules."
Under Level 2 rules, hospitality businesses can have a maximum of 100 people at one time, spaced 1m apart, with a single server bringing food to tables, while contact details must be provided to meet tracing requirements.
"We're encouraging people to book, but we're not reliant on people booking only," Freeman said.
"We should have plenty of tables there and we can find a table to suit people.
"There'll be someone at the gate, taking people's contact details and that sort of things.
"We'll just have to monitor the social distancing, more so outside on the balcony, because the TV camera tends to show up a crowd, if there's a crowd there."
