SPORT Challenge on for stayers
DARWIN Turf Club and TRNT have decided to pull back proposed quarantine measures which would have seen essential staff isolated at the track because of the lack of substantial support.
TRNT chairman Brett Dixon proposed in a letter last week that participants isolate and effectively live at the Fannie Bay racecourse in an effort to “protect both the industry and the community” from the coronavirus outbreak.
However, TRNT CEO Andrew O’Toole revealed to the Sunday Territorian yesterday that the proposed measures had been eased due to the lack of support from the racing community.
Quarantine measures will continue as they have done for the past few meetings with no spectators, only licensed members allowed on the premises and temperature checks upon entry.
“Basically, we didn’t have sufficient support for the proposal, but semi-quarantine measures will continue as they have the past couple of weeks,” O’Toole said.
“As a sport we just want to do what we can to stay relevant and stay racing. Changes have had to be made so that we can try to keep operating as much as we can.”
The NT racing community was divided on the proposal from the start, with trainers and jockeys split on whether they would enter the quarantine or not.
The Alice Springs racing contingent was particularly against the plan, with trainers and jockeys feeling it unfeasible to move everything to Darwin.
“It’s ridiculous, we’ve got a property here and horses here. We can’t just drop our lives to race in Darwin. Alice racing should run at the same time as Darwin,” one Alice Springs trainer said.
“We totally understand that we will have a smaller field in these times but it’s not about having large amounts of prizemoney, but rather about keeping racing alive.”
These sentiments echoed comments by Alice-based jockey Raymond Vigar and other Alice trainers who felt it unfair to their racing community. However, there was a fair amount of positivity around the plan with trainer Dick Leech calling any measure that keeps racing alive a good idea.
“It’s better for us all to stick together or we’re never going to beat this,” Leech said.
“It’s a good thing that they can keep on racing in this time. A lot of people depend on the racing and there’s a lot of people with money involved.
“They’re just trying to keep it going.”