Ambitious target date set for harness racing and remaining feature races axed

Harness Racing New Zealand today confirmed that racing will be restricted to only five or six venues for a minimum of three months when it restarts, hopefully at the end of May or early in June.

HRNZ chairman Ken Spicer revealed its ambitious target date today, stressing it was dependent on when New Zealand moved out of its level 4 lockdown, and what the Government ruled was allowable under level 3.

Spicer also confirmed that meetings would be held with no public attending and licensees would be unable to move between regions.

Ken Spicer … trainers and drivers will not be allowed to move between regions.HRNZ’s draft plan focusses on a four month calendar from June to September but Spicer said obviously racing would not be able to resume until there was a big enough pool of fit horses.

“Once we return to racing, the initial focus will be to provide weekly racing opportunities for the majority of the horse population.”

The HRNZ board has confirmed that any feature or Group races that were due to be held from March 24 to the end of the 2019-20 season would not be run, nor will they be rescheduled. This includes the Harness Jewels.

“The exception is those races administered by the New Zealand Sires’ Stakes Board and we continue to work with them on options for rescheduling those races to the next season.

“This was a very difficult decision to make, however it is important that we give trainers and owners some certainty as they make plans for their horses.

“There will be a need to reshape racing across all codes as we develop a clearer picture of what the full impact of COVID-19 will have on the TAB and the subsequent funding to the codes.”

Spicer said “a racing ecosystem” had to be designed that reflected the likelihood that it would be some time before the Government brings New Zealand back to Alert Level 1.

HRNZ was vigorously reviewing all costs, including employee and contractor payments, he said.