RESUMPTION OF RACING – UPDATE

The NHA is pleased to announce that Horseracing in South Africa will resume on 1 June 2020 behind closed doors. The NHA have informed the Racing Operators accordingly on the requirements that needs to be complied with in order to stage these meetings.

The following rules shall be applicable on the effective start date.

The field sizes will be restricted to 12 runners per race with the exception of ALL Pattern races in which 14 runners will be allowed.

Jockeys will be restricted to ride in the region of their choice and cannot move in between provinces. They will be allowed to make ONE move prior to the commencement of racing.

The adjusted minimum riding weight in Handicap races shall remain at 54kg.

Horses moving between regions shall NOT be allowed unless a horse is moving to another province on a permanent basis as per the regulations of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

All Horse Transport Companies must have the necessary Permits to move horses between the training centres and race courses.

The last race must be run not later than 16h45.

Any persons with comorbidities shall not be able to attend.

Racing at Flamingo Park shall NOT take place in the month of June. The Racing Operators shall advise on the status of Kimberley racing in due course.

All of the above will be applicable for the month of June. Any relaxations shall be implemented in conjunction with the status of the Coronavirus pandemic, together with any positive changes to the Governments adjusted risk strategy from July onwards.

A further release on the Health & Safety, together with the surveillance protocols, as per our submission to Government shall follow.

The Racing Operators have commenced with pre administration work for the upcoming meetings.

The NHA is pleading to all participants to self-regulate regarding prevention and hygiene practices. The Covid-19 pandemic is in its infant stages in South Africa. The scientific and worldwide statistics, forecasts that this virus will be in existence for an extended period. Individual responsibility will go a long way in assisting the South African Horseracing Industry to continue racing, creating value and to the ultimate sustainability thereof.

Vee Moodley

Chief Executive

The KZN midlands has had 50mm of rain recently which is good news ahead of Winter – Bush Hill Stud is looking lush, Capital Stud are getting off the ground in what was previously known as Summerhill Stud with their large Sport Horse operation.

Amongst the social media posts this week was Ashley De Klerk pictured with her soldier of a racehorse, the 11-time winner Putchini enjoying time off in his paddock and base, Yellow Star Stud, during lockdown.

The eight year old son of Bezrin has reportedly only ever seen a vet for routine work and has never had a day of unsoundness in his career, and boasts 108 runs for 10 wins, 25 places and stakes of R740,175. He won his last start on 11 March, under Jabu Jacobs over 1600m.

KZN’s pretrainers Jill Fox and Jane Thomas, situated in Fort Nottingham and Mooi River respectively, are continuing work each morning with their babies, a number which are now ready to go into training once lockdown lifts.

Mike and Tanya McHardy of Rathmor Stud in Nottingham Road have reported “its business as usual” at Rathmor. “Its all good so far. All our staff are on lockdown with us on the farm. We are continuing as normal and our clients have been fantastic in their support!”

Whilst 2020 has been a challenge for all concerned, the breeders will be under severe pressure this year for income with the National Yearling Sale delayed to the end of July and the the KZN Yearling Sale being integrated into the National 2YO Sale – now delayed to the end of November, originally scheduled for August.

Breeders begin prepping their yearlings from the end of 2019 for inspections, so it is indeed a long haul until the sale.

Amongst the the horses on offer from KZN this year in the Nationals catalogue are: half-brother to Gr2 winner Montreal Mist, a half brother to Listed winner Alfeo, half sister to Celestina, half-sister to Silent Crusade, half brother to Railtrip and Gr1 winner Hero’s Honour, half sister to Gr1 winner Rabada, half-sister to Gr1 winner Takingthepeace, half sister to Gr1 winner Love Struck, and Gr3 winner Royal Pleasure.

Following Government’s announcement to extend the COVID-19 Lockdown to the end of April, there have been numerous meetings of the Racing Operators, the Racing Association and The National Horseracing Authority over the Easter weekend.

The following update is hereby provided :-

Targeted Resumption of Racing
On the assumption that the extended national Lockdown is lifted AND that racing is permitted to resume with adequate betting revenues flowing to the Racing Operators, the plan is to recommence racing on Friday, 1 May.

To this end, The National Horseracing Authority is in the process of making a coordinated representation to Government on behalf of the South African Horseracing Industry to enable such resumption after Lockdown is lifted, under whatever Government restrictions are implemented.

Given that we will have effectively lost 5 weeks of racing, the Racing Operators have agreed to push the National Feature Race Programme back around a month, which will mean that the Vodacom Durban July will take place on the last Saturday in July (with the Gold Cup meeting pushed out to the end of August).

This will allow the Highveld to move a slightly revamped Champions Day (featuring the Champions Challenge and six other major races) to the last Saturday in May and stage the Horse Chestnut Stakes (Gr 1), SA Derby (Gr 1) and SA Oaks (Gr 2) on Saturday 2 May.

In the Western Cape, racing will now resume on Saturday 2 May (alongside Turffontein), with the first legs of the 3yo Winter Series (Variety Club Mile and Sweet Chestnut Stakes), together with the Klawervlei Farm 2yo Sales race, moved to this day and the race programme amended accordingly.

This will enable Gold Circle to move their night meeting on Friday 1 May to Sunday 3 May.

Gold Circle confirms that during the period May to July there will be no night racing at Greyville and these meetings will be moved to alternative days.

In the Eastern Cape, the lost East Cape Nursery (L) will be rescheduled for Friday 1 May, and the second and third legs of the World Sports Betting Poly Challenge will be relocated to 8 and 25 May respectively.

Depending on the Government regulations applicable after the lifting of the Lockdown, it is likely that we will have to resume racing “behind closed doors” (possibly with even tighter restrictions than before) with only essential participants allowed to attend race meetings.

Given this, and the unique logistical challenges involved in staging racing at Flamingo Park, a decision will only be taken to resume racing in Kimberley once the government’s directives post lockdown are known.

Stakes
It is common cause that the Racing Operators’ businesses have been under significant pressure of late for several well documented reasons.

This has been further heightened by the national Lockdown necessitated by the COVID-19 containment measures implemented by Government. During this period virtually no revenue has been generated whilst the Racing Operators have had to continue funding their operations.

This includes a significant effort by the Racing Operators, The National Horseracing Authority, the Racing Association and all stakeholders to keep the training centres operational under strict access control and sanitization protocols.

Due to this drying up of revenue and the uncertainty around the timing of the resumption of racing, football and other sports around the world (on which the Racing Operators are heavily reliant for revenue), it is unfortunately unavoidable that racing will resume with a lower level of stakes until the businesses of the Racing Operators normalize.

In the interim, the Racing Association has agreed to contribute R13.1 million towards stakes in Phumelela regions and the Western Cape from May through July, thereby helping to mitigate the resulting reduction in stakes in those regions.

It has been agreed nationally to reduce the MINIMUM stake thresholds for Pattern and Feature Races as follows :-

Grade 1 – Open R425k, F&M / 2yo R325k

Grade 2 – Open R175k, F&M / 2yo R150k

Grade 3 – Open R125k, F&M / 2yo R100k

Listed – R85k

Non-Black-Type – R80k

The necessary communication with the Asian Pattern Committee in relation to the amended stakes levels and new dates for the Pattern has been provided by The National Horseracing Authority.

In addition, minor races stakes will be run at reduced levels in all regions with a single stake for all minor race categories per region as follows :-

KZN – R70k

Highveld – R67,5k

Western Cape – R40k

Eastern Cape – R35k

Northern Cape – R25,5k

The Racing Operators are acutely mindful of the devastating impact this stakes reduction will have on all participants in the sport and are committed to increasing these stakes levels as soon as they are able to. Phumelela and Kenilworth Racing are extremely grateful to the Racing Association for their support, without which these minor stakes levels would have been significantly lower.

Staff
The Racing Operators and The National Horseracing Authority are addressing all other areas of their businesses too, not least of which how their staff are treated during this challenging time.

In line with Government guidance and directives, staff who are either not required or unable to work during the Lockdown period, will be placed on annual leave as appropriate.

National Horseracing AuthorityFurther, the various senior executives of all three Racing Operators and The National Horseracing Authority have had their remuneration significantly reduced (by up to 50%) even though their workloads have remained unchanged and even enhanced in most cases. This in line with the financial hardship everybody in the industry is facing currently.

The National Horseracing Authority has also agreed to reduce the Racing Operators’ levies (the primary funding source of The National Horseracing Authority) by 50% for the months of April, May and June.

Please note that as this situation is extremely fluid, the Industry Stakeholders will continue to meet on a regular basis and if there are any material changes to the above, we will keep everybody informed.

– Released on 13 April 2020 on behalf of the Racing Association, Phumelela, Gold Circle, Kenilworth Racing, the Thoroughbred Horseracing Trust and The National Horseracing Authority