Racing’s Return - Greyhounds first to jump

Domestic racing returns to New Zealand tomorrow (Tuesday) with the greyhounds first out of the traps at Addington and Whanganui.

They will be the first race meetings to be held since the country went into lockdown in late March. The dogs will be followed by harness racing’s resumption on May 29 at Addington followed by the thoroughbreds on July 3.   

Tomorrow’s meetings will both feature 12-race programmes with all races to be over the sprint distances (Addington 295m and Whanganui 305m).

Greyhounds beat the other codes to the punch because they take less time to get to race fitness.

Protocols on track will also be amended. To try and enforce social distancing dogs will only be loaded two at a time rather than two lots of 4, and at the end of the race handlers will only be permitted to retrieve their dogs one at a time.