A draft plan has been outlined by New Zealand’s Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) to resume racing following the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic with an initial resumption of greyhound racing on 11th May 2020 and thorough racing on 3rd July 2020 while harness racing is scheduled to return on 29th May 2020.
The draft plan has been issued to the New Zealand racing industry for consultation which is due to end on 28th April, 2020, with RITA preparing to issue a final calendar on 4th May 2020.
Dean McKenzie, the Executive Chair of RITA, commented on the draft plan by saying that the draft calendar reflects the industry’s commitment to ensure any resumption of racing includes measures to restrict travel, minimize interactions and keep all participants safe.
McKenzie went on to say that the plans are based on the assumption that New Zealand’s government will reduce its Alert Level from 4 (lockdown) to 3 (restrict) or 2 (reduce).
He also said that RITA is actively working with a number of government organizations to ensure the industry’s protocols and rules meet Alert Level 2 and 3 restrictions prior to the resumption of any racing. He added that these discussions have benefited from the response prior to moving to Alert Level 4 and from Australia, where racing has continued under strict restrictions.
All aspects of the draft plan are subject to race meets meeting requisite COVID-19 protocols with RITA running 9.25 greyhound meetings a week at six venues from early May 2020.
