Here is a thought after 4 weeks shutdown.

[mikenz 1,088]

Could a area that has no new positive test  go back to racing,like Southland ,.with its geographical position.It might be harder for other areas,how Aussie keeps going is beyond belief although it's all kept in one state.

[eljay 1,719]

I suspect the government will treat the situation as "all or nothing" - pretty logical I would think.     Only split (if there is one which I cannot see) would be North/South Islands 

[tasman man 11 979]

In view of the tight controls on the Cook Strait ferries and new Racing protocols re Interisland movements I'd say this is a real possibility.

Particularly in Harness where the numbers between North /South are chalk and cheese.

For some time many on here have been saying that calendar programming needs to be flexible ...this is a must IMO.

Also the Horse register should be mandatory i.e. regular stable returns  listing what horses are ready to race.

And racecourses as well.....who is keen and ready to host !

These obvious tools would enable the Industry to get up and running sooner than will be otherwise possible.

Its been well documented how many bigger stables in both codes have sent all their horses to spelling paddock so they will have ZERO horses ready to race in 4 weeks and zero in up to 8 weeks !

The Industry and in particular the TAB will be anxious to start up once the health crisis is under control......it could be a year.

But I think Industry bosses need to be monitoring this daily at moment and collating what horses will return to training and in what regions.

So it could be that the first 8 meetings are held in South Island....or more.

No point having a Cup class pacer training in Auckland if it the only one in North Island.

And no use training a Jumper if there is only 4 jumpers in NZ.

This type of planning would certainly get people thinking.......but I suspect if NZ's current Civil emergency lockdown turns out to be the greatest thing since sliced bread then the starting point is 12 weeks away at earliest....doggies maybe earlier !

The NZTR boss says the 3x codes are working together...could we see some Trots / gallops meetings on grass tracks up north ???

Necessary cos of numbers !....maybe not possible in mud ??

He did stress its a 'new dawning' and change inevitable.....bring it on !

[eljay 1,719]

Let's hope anyway, that the "leaders" keep their followers/participants informed what their thoughts are and what is being discussed so that ideas can be floated and that trainers/owners etc. are not as has been too often in the past done behind closed doors.

[tasman man 11 979]

2 minutes ago, eljay said:

Let's hope anyway, that the "leaders" keep their followers/participants informed what their thoughts are and what is being discussed so that ideas can be floated and that trainers/owners etc. are not as has been too often in the past done behind closed doors.

There will be change ,but not that sort of change !