Kyneton and Hanging Rock Racing Club has submitted an application to enable crowds to attend its New Year’s Day and Australia Day race meetings at Hanging Rock.
The application is presently under review and the club intends to make a further announcement about patron attendance at these two popular annual race meetings once its application has been considered.
For the first time since early March, spectator attendance with a ceiling of 500 people was permitted at the weekend. Yarra Valley and Warrnambool clubs took the opportunity, under COVIDSafe Event Plans.
The same rules will apply for Echuca and the Sandown twilight meeting tomorrow (Wednesday).
However, the Kyneton meeting this Thursday will be restricted to licensed participants, essential staff and pre-registered owners. No members of the general public will be admitted.
Racing Victoria and Country Racing Victoria are pleased to see the resumption of spectator attendance after such a long absence due to the pandemic.
Clubs will continue with segregation between racing participants and spectators in the immediate future, with the requirement to be regularly reviewed.
Racing Victoria chief executive Giles Thompson said everyone in Victorian racing had worked incredibly hard to safely continue racing and training through the pandemic, and this had helped protect the equivalent of 25,000 full-time jobs across the state.
Country Racing Victoria’s chief executive Scott Whiteman said it had been an incredibly tough time for country clubs, so the resumption of spectator attendance was really important as we entered the summer period with many clubs scheduled to host popular country race meetings in the months ahead.
“The opportunity to have up to 500 spectators at a race meeting is a welcome first step and we hope to be able to build on that number in the weeks and months ahead should Victoria stay on top of the virus,” he said.
TREBLE AT KYNETON
There was a nine-event program at Kyneton last Tuesday, highlighted by a treble to the formidable training combination of Tom Dabernig and Ben Hayes.
They were successful with Vida Rose, Angel Rock and the very impressive Cielo D’Oro.
A promising four-year-old having his eighth start, Cielo D’Oro, a $5 chance in an open market, positioned back in the field in the Midland Express C,G&E BM58 over 1212m.
Jamie Mott went wide and secured a run at the top of the straight to soon draw clear. The winning margin was 4.3 lengths with something in hand; Optimizer finished second for trainer/rider Michelle Payne, marginally ahead of the Kyneton-trained pair of Latest Bentley and Toolbar.
