Crowds to be excluded from today's Sportsbet-Ballarat meeting as a precaution

Racing Victoria (RV) and the Ballarat Turf Club (BTC) wish to advise that today’s Sportsbet-Ballarat race meeting will proceed without any spectators, including owners, in attendance.

The decision has been made in an abundance of caution after it was established overnight that a BTC staff member had attended a Victorian Tier 1 COVID exposure site announced last night. RV and BTC note that the BTC staff member attended the site some period after an infected person from New South Wales.

That staff member, who is displaying no COVID symptoms, was in attendance at Ballarat Racecourse on Sunday and Monday. They are undergoing COVID testing today and will be required to isolate for 14 days in accordance with Government directives.

As a precautionary measure several other BTC staff, who have been identified by RV and BTC as close contacts of the staff member under Industry Protocols, have been asked to isolate by RV and BTC today pending the result of the individual’s COVID test.

Following a risk assessment by RV’s Chief Medical Officer, today’s meeting has been cleared to proceed as scheduled following a deep clean of the racing operations areas. This clean has taken place this morning.

As a further precautionary measure, a deep clean of the public grandstand, which will not be in use for today’s race meeting, will also be conducted.