Changes to jumps and highweight schedule announced

Racing Victoria (RV) wishes to advise of changes to the 2020 jumps and highweight racing schedule owing to COVID-19 and the protocols in place for the safe continuation of Victorian racing during the pandemic.

Industry biosecurity protocols have been in place to segregate members of the Green and Gold jockeys’ team on racedays, in addition to limiting the crossover between licensed jumps and flat jockeys in the Gold team.

This has been achieved to date through initiatives such as splitting the Warrnambool May Racing Carnival into two exclusive meetings and programming gaps of up to 80 minutes between jumps and flat races when conducted at the same meeting.

The changes announced today follow an ongoing review of industry protocols and take into account advice from the Casterton and Coleraine Racing Clubs on their ability to appropriately segregate jumps and flat jockeys at their venues.

The Australian Jumping Racing Association (AJRA) has been consulted on the changes, which are as follows:

• Until at least 31 August 2020, highweight races have been moved from meetings where there are races for flat jockeys to other race meetings in order to further reduce the crossover between the two riding groups;
• The 9 highweight races programmed across the following meetings in May -July have been converted to races for flat riders only with the remaining conditions as advertised – Seymour (21 May 2020), Hamilton (26 May 2020), Seymour (18 June 2020), Moe (25 June 2020) and Moe (28 July 2020);
• The Casterton Cup meeting on Sunday, 17 May 2020 will now be conducted for flat riders only, with the three jumps races removed from the program and replaced by three flat races (amended program follows);
• The Casterton meeting on Saturday, 27 June 2020 will now be conducted for jumps riders only with a fourth jumps race, a 1JW Steeplechase, added and the three flat races converted to highweight races;
• The Open Steeplechase at Casterton on 27 June 2020 has been increased in prizemoney from $27,000 to $67,500 in recognition of the equivalent race removed from the 17 May 2020 program; and
• The Casterton and Coleraine meetings on Sundays, 9 and 16 August 2020 will now be conducted for jumps riders only with each meeting to host a combination of jumps and highweight races. This brings to six the number of meetings exclusively for jumps riders between May and August 2020.

RV Executive General Manager – Racing, Greg Carpenter, said: “Whilst the nation is having some success in its efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, the challenge remains unabated for us to keep racing and training going safely within Victoria.

“The industry biosecurity protocols are as important today as they were six weeks ago. We have continued to review them throughout and make adjustments to help protect the industry now and provide multiple options if a participant or industry official tests positive at any time.

“The changes announced today helps reduce the amount of crossover between jumps and flat jockeys from 15 to eight meetings between now and the conclusion of the jumps racing season at the end of August.

“The changes also take into account advice from the Casterton and Coleraine Racing Clubs that they would find it difficult with their infrastructure to appropriately segregate jockeys on raceday at their upcoming meetings.

“We understand that it is not ideal for jumps trainers, owners and riders to be making changes during the middle of the season, however these are unprecedented times that require the industry to remain agile as we continue to navigate this crisis.

“I want to thank all jumps racing participants for their cooperation and understanding to date, in particular in adhering to the protocols in place for the conduct of yesterday’s historic jumps meeting at Warrnambool.”

The updated program for the Casterton meeting on Sunday, 17 May is as follows:   

Nominations: 12noon, Tuesday 12 May

Acceptances: 9.15am, Thursday 14 May

The updated program for the Casterton meeting on Saturday, 27 June is as follows:   

  * Restricted to horses with a flat rating of 68 and below

Nominations: 12noon, Monday 22 June

Acceptances: 9am, Thursday 25 June

The programs for the August meetings at Casterton and Coleraine will be published in the July edition of Inside Racing.