Gallops boss: We’ll know what post lockdown racing will look like late next week

Racing dates for July and the first four months of the new season will be released late next week.

In a statement out today New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing chief executive Bernard Saundry says all three of the codes, gallops, harness and greyhounds, will reveal on Friday the racing dates for August through November.

The proposed calendar is subject to funding, details of which have yet to be signalled by the Racing Industry Transition Agency, he says.

It is hoped that a draft of the full season’s calendar will be unveiled in mid-May.

On Thursday RITA will lay out what racing we can expect for the remainder of the season, with July the targeted return for thoroughbred racing.

Bernard Saundry … a great deal of collaboration between the codes and RITA.“Getting to this stage has involved a great deal of collaboration between the codes and RITA,” says Saundry.

“With the Prime Minister signalling April 20 as the date when a call will be made on the next steps we take as a country, racing is well positioned with protocols developed to allow racing and training to take place under a lower alert level.

“The industry had already put in place many of these prior to our final weekend of racing, where meetings were conducted behind closed doors.

“The group which has formalised the protocols has also taken on board some of the steps implemented in New South Wales and Victoria which have allowed racing to continue there.

“Once the relevant government departments have signed off on the protocols they will be released to the wider industry for implementation.”

Saundry says having watched racing continue in Australia during the COVID-19 outbreak, it is possible to keep the industry going if everyone adhered to the expected guidelines.