As at Wednesday 25 August 2:00pm

New Zealand is currently still in Alert Level 4, during which time no race meetings, trials or jumpouts can take place.

However, NZTR is preparing for Alert Level 3 and what this means for race meetings, trials and jumpouts.

By way of reminder, racing at Alert Level 3 means that:

• All attendees must wear masks at all areas of the racecourse, with jockeys being permitted to temporarily remove their masks during the running of their races. Refusal will result in expulsion from the race meeting;
• The race meetings will be conducted behind closed doors, i.e. only jockeys, trainers and their staff (along with their nominated horses), and others essential to servicing the meetings will be allowed on-course;
• There will be no on-course catering, so people must bring their own food to the race meetings;
• All attendees will be required to complete and bring a health declaration form to the race meetings;
• All attendees will be required to scan into the race meetings through the NZ Covid Tracer App;
• All attendees must practise social distancing where possible;
• All attendees are encouraged to frequently use soap and or hand sanitiser; and
• Anyone with cold or flu symptoms or who has been identified as any kind of potential contact of Covid-positive people should stay home and arrange a Covid test.

The National Racing Bureau requests that in the first instance, racing participants transact online (eg for nominations, scratchings, rider declarations). Where this is not possible, they are encouraged to email [email protected] with any queries. Where necessary, racing participants can still ring the National Racing Bureau.

Once again, we strongly encourage all racing participants to get vaccinated if possible, for the protection of both themselves and the rest of the industry.

Everyone is also again reminded that there are various Covid-19 financial support schemes available. For further information on these, you can head to: https://www.business.govt.nz/covid-19/financial-support-for-businesses/  

As more information comes to hand over coming days, we will provide you with further updates.