U-turn on horse racing as an essential industry

I blogged yesterday on how horse trainers had been granted an exemption to stay open. Since then (might be coincidence) the decision has been reversed.

Lincoln Farms reports:

Trainers’ hopes that they can keep exercising horses during the Covid-19 lockdown have been dashed with the Ministry of Primary Industries ruling this afternoon that all horses must be spelled unless paddocks cannot be found for them.

Last night New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing and Harness Racing New Zealand issued trainers and track operators with an exhaustive list of rules to follow to allow horses to be worked, protocols approved by the MPI.

That led to tracks like Cambridge Raceway and Franklin Park preparing systems for how and when horses would be worked. Trainers, anxious for owners to not have to wait months before racing their charges again, were also going through the myriad of paperwork involved.

But today even more restrictive requirements were inserted into the list and already this has led to the closure of the Cambridge galloping and harness tracks.

It would be a very interesting OIA to MPI asking what consultations with Minister (or their staff) took place in deciding the original rules, and then the new rules.