Coronavirus fears hit the Hong Kong tracks
- Public lock-out could last up to eight weeks
The Coronavirus fears have reached the Hong Kong race tracks, forcing a public lock-out.
The Year of the Rat is off to a bad start for Hong Kong (HK) racegoers as a âshutdownâ of public access areas was put into place for the Sha Tin meeting on Monday.
The âpartialâ lockout was announced on Friday night, however this appeared to be too late for some as many racing fans were turned up for Mondayâs big meeting and were greeted by closed gates.
Only a select few were permitted to enter the track, including owners, trainers, jockeys, staff and media plus those with existing bookings in sealed off areas.
Local trainer Tony Cruz said heâs never experienced anything like it.
âIt is the first time I have seen it, it is unbelievable,â he said. âItâs strange, this virus and all that is going on is scary, I hope it can be all over soon.
âIt is very bad for racing. Itâs not healthy, not healthy for anybody.â
For HK racegoers, the lockout will roll on to Wednesdayâs Happy Valley meeting as well.
The confusion has led to the Hong Kong Jockey Club CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges to make a public apology and added that the temporary closure could last from six to eight weeks.
âI would not be surprised if we had to have special measures for six to eight weeks,â he said. âI hope not, but I think if you look at history, that is probably likely.
âWe have to be extremely careful and extremely conscious about what we do.
âTheoretically you could even reduce the crowd and have only those on course who are absolutely necessary.
âIt could be only key personnel and owners who have horses, but I donât think at this stage we have to go to such an extreme.
âThe situation we have here is like a sit-down venue, itâs like any restaurant you go to.
âI would submit we are even more prudent.
âEverybody who comes has to disinfect their hands and we have a temperature measure.
âFor everyone who comes, we know where they sit and who they are with.
âFrom a risk level, we think what we did was responsible.
âWe wanted to provide our service to a lot of people who are passionate about it.
âI apologise for those people we could not accommodate, especially those at the OCBBs, but from a public health perspective it was a risk we would not like to take.
âThatâs why we restricted the meeting only to people who had a prior bookingâ.
âWe have applied significant measures to minimise any potential risk which could come through going to the races,â Jockey Club chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said.
âWhen we looked at what we had to do, we are expecting that this health issue will last a significant period of time.
âItâs not a once-off, so the measures we employ are in a phased approach.
âWe will, on a daily basis, look at the risk levels and if we have to take even stronger measures, but at the moment we are satisfied that what we have done is responsible.â
âThe OCBBs have always [contributed] a percentage of 15 or 16 of turnover and it was down in exactly the same way,â Engelbrecht-Bresges said.
âWe lost 15 or 16 per cent, but in the overall picture, itâs not about the financials, we wanted to provide an ongoing service to our customers.
âIt is not only about us and turnover and tax, we have a significant number of staff who depend on racing for their income.
âIf you closed down racing [on Monday], you would have closed down racing, I believe, for six to eight weeks. So we want to continue if we can.â
âLooking at this virus, itâs unknown how its spread, even if you donât show any symptoms it could be transmitted. We are being more prudent and risk averse.
âI think the public sentiment is different [from SARS], so you have to adjust what you do in the different circumstances.
âItâs a very difficult time for Hong Kong and we think keeping one of the major [sources of] entertainment going is important.
âWe know this new coronavirus is a significant risk but we have to manage risk, so we do it responsibly.â
So Happy Valley races on Wednesday night will go ahead, minus the race-going public.