And they’re off…
Horse racing will resume tomorrow, but without spectators and betting shops, which can be done online
AFTER more than two months of inactivity due to Covid-19 lockdown rules, horse racing will break into full stride once again, with a 10-race programme at Durban’s Greyville Racecourse tomorrow.
The event marks a rare occasion in that there will be no betting shops open for punters to have a flutter on the outcomes of races, and no spectators will be in attendance.
On Thursday, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister, announced that all non-contact sporting activity was allowed in level 3, which is effective from tomorrow, but behind closed doors.
The empty racecourse instruction means the country’s premier horse racing event, the Vodacom Durban July, will lose much of its lustre and money-spinning ability.
Crowds of 55 000 are known to throng at Greyville for the July, but without “tent town”, which has become an intrinsic part of the event, the course will resemble a ghost town.
But those closely involved in horse racing said they didn’t mind the restrictions, all they wanted was a return of on-track action as the industry had been tottering close to a complete financial disaster in recent years.
The industry contributes R3 billion to the gross domestic product and employs 60 000 people.
Vee Moodley, chief executive of the National Horseracing Authority (NHA), the sport’s governing body, said the lockdown had exacerbated horseracing’s troubles.
Phumelela Gaming and Leisure, the company licensed to operate horse racing in seven provinces, was committed to business rescue this month. But the powerful Oppenheimer family has since offered assistance to Phumelela with a R100 million cash injection.
Gold Circle, the country’s other horse racing operator that stages events in Kwazulu-natal, lost R25m in revenue during each month of the lockdown. Michel Nairac, chief executive, said it was expecting to record a loss of R75m when the financial year ends in July, and only “survived the crisis by borrowing funds”.
Moodley said the resumption of racing was the only way to dig the sport out of a deep quagmire. Therefore, they were “relieved and excited” by Dlamini Zuma’s announcement.
“If it happened any later, the industry would have gone under, 60 000 jobs would have been lost and the well-being of the animals was stake.”
He said due to its complex nature, racing fell into various sectors of government, which complicated the NHA’S plea to have it reinstated at level 3. Moodley said they were required to forward their motivation for reinstatement to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
“We motivated along the lines of preserving 60 000 people and the future of the animals. And that horse racing was a non-contact sport with a low transmission risk.”
Moodley said that its training centres around the country were fully operational throughout lockdown as essential services, only the sporting side on the racecourse was not active.
“What happens on a race day is about a tenth of the activity that goes on at our training centres from about 3am to 9am. Besides, of our 430 race meetings each year, we only get massive crowds five times.
“We receive low attendances at the bulk of our events. So, we are already used to having empty racecourses.”
Moodley said the NHA has since laid down strict directives for race days. Only jockeys, grooms, trainers and course staff, management and workers from other support services will be permitted to attend race meetings.
Wearing masks is mandatory, including jockeys, who will not be permitted to move between provinces in pursuit of mounts.
Fields for races will be largely restricted to 12 runners, race meetings must end before 4.45pm and all social distancing protocols to be obeyed.
Nairac said the resumption of racing was also well received by its 900 employees and others linked to the industry.
“It has been two-and-a-half months of attrition. Thursday’s announcement was the ‘pick me up’ we all needed.”
He said Gold Circle was committed to the strict Covid-19 protocols and social distancing rules stipulated by the NHA.
They will also ensure the jockeys’ change rooms will be split further to prevent big gatherings, every person on duty at the racecourse will have their temperature tested, and in-house restaurants will remain shut.
“Only staff and management who are required on race days will be in attendance,” Nairac noted.
He confirmed that betting shops will not be in operation at this stage and awaited directives from the gambling authorities, but online betting facilities will be operational.
About the empty stands for the July, Nairac said: “We had already made the call to run the July behind closed doors. We have a responsibility to a very vulnerable population.
“To put a large group of people together will be placing them at risk. We don’t want to be responsible for that.
“Hopefully, we will find a vaccine or treatment for the virus and we won’t have the same problem in 2021.”
The Vodacom Durban July will take place on July 25.
“We just grateful to have racing again,” said Nairac.
“More importantly, another difficulty would have been for owners to feed their horses for a further month without no earnings in return.”
Nairac said this would have caused further attrition in the horse population and caused it to diminish.
“That would have brought sadness because horses would have to be euthanised or given away for leisure activities because owners wouldn’t want to keep them just to feed them.”
Collin Naidoo, a horse owner and long-time patron of the sport, said it was a timely and necessary decision taken to reconvene horse racing in the country.
“It is a decision we have been waiting for. Prior to that, I also pondered whether to keep the string of horses I’m involved with or not. We rely on our stake earnings to meet our monthly fees,” said Naidoo.
Shawn Meaker, another owner, said horse racing was a major industry and required all the relevant people working together to ensure its survival and growth.
“A special thanks to Mary Oppenheimer’s daughters for all their help, and the awesome effort by all the trainers, jockeys and grooms who have kept these amazing animals safe and fit through these extremely testing times.”