Peter V’landys wants crowds back at races as early as next week

Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys wants crowds back at the races — beginning with owners — as early as next week

Peter V’landys is talking to the NSW government about crowds returning to the races

Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys wants crowds back at the races — beginning with owners — as early as next week and he is holding talks with the state government in a bid to make it happen.

V’landys said on Tuesday morning it would come down to risk analysis and he believes the risk surrounding COVID-19 is now extremely low.

“We’re meeting with government about crowds returning on July 1 but we’re looking at bringing back owners as early as next week. We believe the facts and figures will justify our position,” V’landys said on Melbourne radio station RSN.

“The owners are the lifeblood of our industry. In NSW, owners put in $350 million-a-year to have their horses compete and we pay them $250 million in prize money and owner returns, so they subsidise the industry by $100 million.

“They’re the first people we should have back. They can stay and watch their horse race and then go. We’ll get the owners back and then the members and then the public,” he said.

“The crowds need to be capped and ideally you want to have them in the hospitality areas where the clubs generate the majority of their revenue.

“When it was at the peak of the virus it was 25 or 26 per cent. In Spain it was 60 per cent. For the last 50 days in NSW it has been less than half a per cent. So, when is it going to be right to start?

“There is no reason why crowds couldn’t be let in and we continue with the social distancing and we continue with the hygiene matters and we can continue with the infra-red cameras measuring people’s temperatures,” he said.

“I believe there is minimal to no risk having crowds and we gave ourselves another two to three weeks to look at the data. The risk of getting the virus at a venue is next to nil.

“Our chief medical officer is confident that there won’t be a second wave, so that has given us the confidence to announce the prizemoney. Putting my other hat on in the NRL, our pandemic expert said for someone to catch the virus now is 1000-1.

“Well I don’t see too many winners at Randwick at 1000-1, so I’m pretty comfortable with the risk analysis that there won’t be a second wave.”