In light of the government announcement on Tuesday night regarding the country returning to a combination of alert levels 2 and 3 from midday Wednesday, New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing has decided to postpone the Regional Roadshows scheduled for the South Island this week.

NZTR will be monitoring the situation and will make an announcement regarding the meetings to be held during the week commencing August 24 in the North Island closer to the time.

“While we understand that stakeholders and participants may find this disappointing our focus currently must remain on doing everything we can to ensure race meetings, trials and training can continue,” NZTR said in a statement. 

“At this stage we have made the decision, following discussion with stewards and club representatives, to hold today’s Taupo meeting and Friday’s Waverley meeting behind closed doors. 

“This is a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of our industry participants. We will also be reintroducing contact tracing, temperature checking, social distancing and reminders to use hand sanitiser.”

Any decision regarding attendance at the Riccarton meeting on Saturday and the Ruakaka meeting, now scheduled for Sunday, will be made once there is more clarification from government. 

At this stage the new alert levels are expected to remain in place until midnight on Friday.