Coronavirus: Melbourne Racing Club to welcome owners back on track at Sandown on Wednesday
Owners with confirmed runners at the midweek meeting at Sandown will be welcomed back to the races for the first time since March, but under strict biosecurity protocols.
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Melbourne Racing Club will welcome owners back to the races for the first time since March at Wednesday’s Sandown meeting.
The club said owners with a confirmed runner would have the opportunity to attend the races for the first time on a MRC racecourse since March 14.
“MRC is working with Racing Victoria to detail the protocols for attendance for these owners likely with set time restrictions and entry and exit procedures for each race,” the club said in a statement.
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“A hospitality option for owners looking to stay all day will be offered to those attending Caulfield on 27 June.”
MRC chief executive officer Josh Blanksby said “it is a positive sign for the return of spectators to the track, with hope that members will be next”.
“The Australian racing industry as a whole has shown that we are able to continue racing with the strictest of distancing and safety protocols in place,” he said.
“We are confident that this will be the first step in allowing more spectators, including the long-awaited return of members and racing lovers, back to the track.”
Owners with confirmed acceptances wanting to attend Wednesday’s meeting or Caulfield’s Winter Race Day on June 27 will receive further information from next week.
Swan Hill will host owners at Monday’s meeting before Ballarat does likewise Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Racing Victoria boss Giles Thompson welcomed the “milestone” and importance of segregating owners to reduce the risk of any COVID-19 outbreaks.
“It won’t be as richer experience as owners would come to expect from a normal race day and the primary focus of that is to separate (racing participants) from the owners,” Thompson said.
“No one will be able to go from the racing operations area (mounting yard) to where the owners are and vice-versa, they will be kept well apart. That’s where the focus for each club who will be welcoming owners has to be.”
It will be up to the individual clubs to implement safety procedures in accordance with the number of owners in attendance. Clarity from the State Government is expected in coming days on the exact number of people to be allowed at race tracks.
“Unfortunately we can’t let everyone back on track from Monday but to be able to get owners back on track is a real milestone,” Thompson said.
“Credit not just the owners but to everyone across the industry … the trainers, clubs, racing operations, the stewards, barrier attendants and the punters.
“All of these people have enabled this to happen.”
Thoroughbred Racehorse Owners’ Association chairman Jonathan Munz said everyone wants to get back to normal as quickly as we can.
“If you look at the number of people attending races in winter you’re talking about huge areas with small amounts of people so it’s a logical decision to let owners back on course,” Munz said. “Most of them just want to be able to go to the mounting yard or see their horses in the stalls so it’s perfectly safe and it is a good thing to do.”
Owners will be warned of any specific entry requirements as part of the acceptances process for a particular race meeting.
Swan Hill Jockey Club chief executive Aaron Garvie said owners on Monday must submit to a temperature test and supply contact details upon entry.
“It’s great to have some of them back on course, we have run four meetings now under the RV (crowd-free) protocols and it’s a very different feeling,” Garvie said.
“We will have a capped number of people … ideally a register of owners who are going to attend and we can get their details and temperature test as they come in and tick them off.”
Owners will be hosted on the first floor of the members area at Swan Hill, with full view of the racetrack.
“There will be no possible chance of any crossover (with participants),” Garvie said.
RV weighs up scale change
Racing Victoria will alert jockeys soon to any changes to the minimum weight scale.
A push to set the minimum at 55kg has divided jockeys and trainers concerned about job security and animal welfare.
The minimum was raised from 54kg to 56kg during the pandemic.
RV boss Giles Thompson said a decision would be “certainly within the week”, in consultation with the Victorian Jockeys’ Association and Australian Trainers’ Association.
“If we were to increase we’d give them notice because the jockeys will need time to adjust,” Thompson said. “(The issue is) absolutely at the top of the agenda at the moment.
“We increased the scale specifically for the COVID restrictions put in place, particularly because we were restricting the ability for some of the jockeys to get work and to keep fit.
“Those protocols (gyms reopening) are lifting now.”
RV also remains on track to make announcements by the end of June on prizemoney, which was cut 10 and 20 per cent for country and city meetings respectively.
“The fact we kept racing … certainly gives us a much greater opportunity to restore prizemoney,” Thompson said.
Thoroughbred Racehorse Owners Association chairman Jonathan Munz said prizemoney must return to the pre-pandemic levels. “It is very important for the industry to reinstate prizemoney back to previous levels as they are doing in NSW,” Munz said.
Cult galloper forced to retire after bleeding attack
A second racing miracle has proved beyond iron horse Black Heart Bart, who has been permanently retired after suffering a bleeding attack at Belmont on Saturday, writes Leo Schlink.
In a sad, hollow finish to a tremendous career, the rising 10-year-old – winner of six Group 1 contests – was beaten 26 lengths behind Perfect Jewel in the Group 3 Hyperion Stakes.
Trainer Lindsey Smith, who revived Black Heart Bart’s career after the gelding was retired to disqualified Darren Weir’s farm as a stock horse, paid tribute to his stable warrior.
“The time has come to retire a true champion,” Smith tweeted after Racing WA stewards reported Black Heart Bart had bled from both nostrils.
Originally trained in WA by Vaughn Sigley, Black Heart Bar won five times at the elite for Weir before hoof problems led to his first retirement.
Nursed back to fitness by Smith and his team, which included some of Weir’s former staff, the veteran returned with a vengeance at last season’s spring carnival to land the Group 1 Underwood Stakes at Caulfield at $101.
BLACK HEART BART
9YO gelding
Blackfriars – Sister Theresa
Starts: 62 (17-15-4)
Prizemoney: $4.8 million.
Group 1 wins – Underwood Stakes (twice), The Goodwood, Memsie Stakes, CF Orr Stakes and Futurity Stakes.
Originally published as Coronavirus: Melbourne Racing Club to welcome owners back on track at Sandown on Wednesday