Clarification re Covid protocols

Letter to industry participants from Harness Racing New Zealand

I would like to clarify the situation around exercising your horses under COVID-19 Alert Level 4.

The government protocols are horses are able to have light exercise from an animal welfare point of view e.g. walking or jogging a couple of rounds of a track to stretch their legs, if they are usually boxed or unable to get out into a paddock to run around.

This is either at your own track or if you are based at a training centre whereby you train that horse at the centre each day of the week. This covers people living close to the training centre without direct access as well.

We are under level 4 conditions so it is not business as usual and therefore you are not allowed to fast work or be jogging a horse for a longer period. If you travel to a track once or twice a week to fast work this is not permitted.

We realise that currently Auckland/Coromandel are at Alert level 4 for 7 days and the rest of the country are for 3 days and racing is still programmed, however, we need to ensure we follow the government protocols to ensure we are able to continue to race at other Alert Levels when restrictions are lifted.

Catherine McDonald
General Manager Racing | Harness Racing New Zealand Inc