Dubbo Harness Racing left in limbo as isolation battle takes hold

After the impact of COVID-19 on sporting fixtures around the country, racing seemed to be one of the few ventures that would carry on, ableit heavily modified, throughout the year.

But the Dubbo track has been sitting unused after all racing was shifted to Bathurst as part of the ongoing fight, in a decree handed down by the Harness Racing NSW board.

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"We've got no races and no trials, so it's just the problem we've got, we've just now been given access for outside and local trainers to come in and do fast work on the track," Edwards said.

"Now they've agreed to let them come in and do fast work, but adhere to all the regulations with regards to distance and the other measures we need to observe to ensure safety."

Edwards says the decision, while understandable, has put the Dubbo club 'right behind' and has had huge impacts on trainers and drivers locally.

"You're not able to race unless you want to go to Bathurst, that's a really big travel with a lot of cost, so it's a problem even without all the other, different things that are happening right now," Edwards said.

"It's difficult to run back and forth to Bathurst all the time, we could have been racing here at Dubbo or Parkes, all the races that we had allocated to us have now gone to Bathurst and Parkes are in the same boat."

While the decision ultimately, is necessary to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, Edwards says the knock-on effects couldn't have come at a worse time for the club itself.

"This time of the year is when the whole bulk of the racing is on, we've lost a big meeting we were supposed to have Easter Saturday night and now we had to postpone those until the end of the year, so we're hoping we'll be able to have those at some point," Edwards said.

"There's a couple of good races we had planned for Easter Saturday night, hopefully we'll see them return at the end of the year."

The situation has also put strain on trainers.

"Some guys have turned their horses out, some are perservering and hoping it clears up soon, there's really no way of knowing when it's going to end at the moment," Edwards said.

"Soon, hopefully, we'll be able to proceed and do something, but with the NRL coming back and football clubs, we might be able to have harness racing in some format to keep things going here."

"There's so many if, buts and maybes after a race, so it's just what racing is. No one knows, no one can forecast when or what's going to happen."