Dubbo Harness Racing Club is the latest casualty of the Western region's COVID-19 enforced lockdown which has resulted in Friday's meeting being moved.
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The club announced the decision via their Facebook page with the meeting now being moved to Bathurst while no Dubbo trainers and horses will be able to attend due to restrictions.
Dubbo Harness Racing Club president Len Edwards knows it is the right decision to take the meeting elsewhere.
"Instead of losing a race meeting and calling it off, they have decided to transfer it to Bathurst," he said.
"Of course no Dubbo guys can go to it, so it's been taken from Dubbo and given to Bathurst.
"We are locked down and will continue to be for a while so that's the way it's going to be.
"We don't want to miss out on a race meeting anywhere."
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As per government restrictions, spectators will be not allowed to attend and only essential workers will be present at the track.
"There's nobody allowed to attend," Edwards said.
"If we held it here, there would be nobody allowed to attend other than the participants.
"It just goes back to how it was before with no public allowed to attend and only essential people to go."
Like many organisations around the state, the last 12 months at least have been difficult for the Harness Racing Club and Edwards admitted it had been a tricky period to work through.
"It's been like this for over 12 months," he said.
"In March last year we lost it for a few months then came back under full restrictions.
"Then after that it sort of lifted for a little bit and we were able to get through Christmas.
"All of a sudden it's back on again."
Edwards believes moving the meeting to Bathurst was an obvious choice as the city boasts some of the best trainers, horses and drivers in the state.
"The fact remains we haven't got all the horses that we used to have in Dubbo anymore," he said.
"We realise that Bathurst is the centre of harness racing at the moment.
"Because they've got heaps of horses and trainers so they can run a race meeting themselves.
"But, it has been hard on us.
"Because of things that have happened and we have got what we have got now. Plus we are not too sure how long things will last."
Looking ahead, Friday's meeting was set be Dubbo's first of four consecutive events but Edwards said the plan was now in jeopardy.
"We had four Friday nights in a row so I don't know what's going to happen to them," he said.
"Maybe it will be the same but we don't know. We've just got to wait and find out from week to week what the restrictions are."
At the moment, it looks likely Bathurst could host at least one more of Dubbo's three remaining meetings but a decision will be made in the next week.
Racing will start at 5:07pm.
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