ON TRACK ... FOR NOW

Geelong race meet could be last for foreseeable future

TODAY’S Geelong Racing Club meeting could be its last for sometime as the state goes into shutdown as part of strict coronavirus measures.

Racing is one of the few sports continuing around the country but club chief Daniel Salter said yesterday there was no certainty its next meeting on April 2 would go ahead.

Geelong will also be one of the first clubs to enforce Racing Victoria’s jockey segregation plan.

Salter said it was a possibility the meet could be the final race day for the club for the immediate future.

“I’m still not 100 per cent sure tomorrow’s will go ahead,” Salter said yesterday when asked about the April 2 fixture. “Another 10 days’ time, who knows?”

Racing Victoria released a statement yesterday that racing and training would continue following consideration if the sport should continue.

Jockey segregation measures were introduced over the weekend in a move to keep racing going as other sports cancel or postpone their seasons.

“Instead of us having one male and one jockeys room, we’ve got two male and two jockeys rooms with a lot bigger space to enable them to do what they have to do with as much room, keeping that isolation in place,” Salter said.

“They say the minimum is 1.5 metres but we’ll be a lot more than that so they can carry out their duties in a safe manner.

“They’ll be in different bathrooms, different toilets, different scales, we’ve got extra saddlecloths and those sort of things.”

Only race day officials will be allowed into the Breakwater complex. “No club committee, no staff other than what’s required. Very few people,” Salter said. “Everyone (will be) tested — temperature checks — as they come onto the racecourse.”

RV chief Giles Thompson said the industry wanted to provide a framework that allowed for the safe continuation of Victorian racing. He said RV would continue to review if the sport should continue.

“The thoroughbred racing industry generates over $3.2 billion economic activity within the state of Victoria and supports the employment of a vast array of people including trainers, stable staff, jockeys, breeders, vets, farriers, float drivers, administrators, officials and many more,” Thompson said.

“It is a major and important contributor to the state of Victoria, particularly throughout country and regional areas.

“These are unprecedented times and we have rightly taken unprecedented actions over the past fortnight around banning crowds, locking down training centres, introducing compulsory temperature checks for people entering courses, isolating and restricting the movement of jockeys and abandoning our picnic racing season, to ensure that we provide the safest environment possible for the continuation of Victorian racing.”