Covid-hit Victoria has meetings cancelled

Victorian harness racing is on a knife’s edge following a positive COVID-19 test at a recent Tabcorp Park Melton race meeting.

A participant who briefly attended the race meeting on August 2 subsequently tested positive.

Importantly, HRV has confirmed the individual did not attend any subsequent race meetings.

HRV was notified of the positive test very late Tuesday night and called-off the Melton meeting scheduled for yesterday (Wednesday).

Race meetings scheduled for today (Thursday) at Charlton and Geelong have also been cancelled.

“We need time to work this through, it’s very complex,” HRV CEO Dayle Brown said. “We expect to be in a position to give a full update late tomorrow (Thursday).”

Although the August 2 meeting was crowd-less, it is understood 72 participants attended.

Identifying how many of those may have been close contacts of the individual in question is crucial to HRV’s next steps.

Those who attended the August 2 meeting included top drivers like Chris Alford, John Caldow, Lance Justice and Jack Laugher.

Beyond Thursday, Victoria’s next meetings are scheduled for Yarra Valley (Friday), Mildura (Friday night) and Melton (Saturday night).

If HRV gets the all-clear to resume racing, it would be likely Saturday night’s Melton meeting would be moved to a different venue.

Melton and its surrounding areas are the hot spot of Victoria’s latest COVID-19 outbreak.

Victoria is back in its sixth COVID-19 lockdown, which won’t be eased until at least midnight next Thursday (August 19).

HRNZ