Is horse racing an essential service?

Lincoln Farms reports:

Racing has been thrown a lifeline by the Government during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Ministry Of Primary Industries has announced that training centres, stables, agistment properties and stud farms where horses are in containment are considered essential services under animal welfare considerations. …

The news was welcomed by Lincoln Farms’ trainer Ray Green.

“Common sense has prevailed. We’ll be able to look after the horses better rather than just slinging them out in the paddock.

I suspect certain Ministers were involved in this decision.

If it was purely about animal welfare, well horses do very well in paddocks – that is where the vast majority of horses live.

But what this decisions means is:

“And this will save a heap of jobs and potentially keep the whole game alive. We can continue to train the horses and have them ready to go when racing resumes.

“Otherwise it could have been another three or four months even when we got back to level three and that would have been disastrous for the industry.”

So it seems it is prioritising the interests of the racing industry over minimising COVID-19 transmission.

Now it’s not a bad thing that the racing industry doesn’t lose so many jobs, but the question is were they given special treatment due to Ministerial involvement?