Tassie in the home stretch
WATCHING big numbers of thoroughbred trials at Mowbray (14) and Elwick (11) last week gave industry participants and punters alike the chance to ignite the engines in preparation for racing’s resumption in a fortnight.
Plans are in place for racing to resume from its lay-off on June 14, with a thoroughbred meeting scheduled for Mowbray and a harness meeting locked in for that night at Elwick.
By the time racing resumes, the industry will have been shut down for 73 days.
Whether the Government made the right decision in listening to Public Health advice to close the industry down without consultation will be debated fiercely for a long time.
But the only way industry participants can make a full recovery is to ignore the politics, for the time being, and focus on the job at hand.
During all the recent trials, the participants have followed biosecurity protocols to the letter, ensuring the trials played out without a hitch, much the same way they went about their business before being shut down.
Race programs are being delivered to trainers of all codes this week, and now that all regions are in play Tasmanian
trainers of all three codes can start making plans for the restart, provided Public Health does not intervene.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed forever the way we live, and it will be a different landscape when the borders are reopened and we can again start to travel interstate and overseas.
The racing industry has always been a resilient beast, especially in Tasmania, but it will take an almighty effort to climb back to where it was before the shutdown.
Last year Mystic Journey released the floodgates for Tasmanian racing, with most of Australia coming to terms with what Tasmanians have known for some time. Producing champions that can match it at the elite level is no easy task, but the thoroughbred code last year finally tasted what Tasmania’s harness industry has been doing for decades.
Greyhounds, too, have made their mark on the national stage in recent years, with Buckle Up Wes and Bell Haven winning at Group One level interstate, and before them kennel mates Chinatown Lad and Fallen Zorro were setting records at the highest level on the mainland.
It is great to look back on Tasmanian racing stars who have made those on the big island sit up and take notice.
Tasmanian racing has now been given the task of finding new stars and along the way delivering a product that will encourage punters nationwide to reinvest. How hard everyone works on securing the desired result will determine where Tasmanian racing is placed nationally in a year from now.