With so much sport cancelled or in limbo as a casualty of the coronavirus threat, there is one code clinging to a hope of continuing throughout the pandemic.
Harness Racing NSW has announced a regionalisation plan as the industry takes a direction to maintain harness racing in NSW. Under the new plan, NSW will be split into four recognised regions – Metropolitan, Northern, Western and Southern.
Newcastle Paceway and Tamworth Paceway will share the Northern region race meetings from April 1.
The general criteria for the plan will mean that trainers, drivers and stablehands will only be permitted to race in the region in which they are located and the race meetings will be serviced by regional specific stewards and approved race club personnel. Horse movements between regions will be accepted only with the approval of the HRNSW Integrity Division.
Visit https://www.hrnsw.com.au/news/2389/nsw-regionalisation for the full statement on NSW Regionalisation.
Strict protocols were introduced for harness race meetings on 16 March which included a limit of 100 approved participants, officials and staff. Even tighter biosecurity protocols are set to be introduced under the new plan.
Newcastle Harness Racing Club conducted its first closed race meeting on Saturday 21 March and following a brief suspension of racing across the state this week is set to race again behind closed gates tomorrow night (Saturday 28 March) following the negative COVID-19 test results on a HRNSW steward announced today.
Club Chairman Daryl Rodgers said “the participants have been given a shot in the arm with racing resuming Saturday night and the regionalisation plan gives the industry a boost allowing owners and trainers to keep their operations running during these difficult times”.
For sports fans hungry for a fix, harness race meetings are broadcast across the Sky Racing Network and replays are posted online at hrnsw.com.au/trotstv.