Harness Racing Victoria has confirmed the state's racing is off indefinitely following news of a COVID-19 case within the industry.
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On Wednesday, Harness Racing New South Wales confirmed an official who worked at the Penrith harness racing meeting on March 19 has tested positive to coronavirus.
"We've been prudent and cautious to protect the health and wellbeing of our participants from the start. We suspended our race meeting (on Tuesday) as soon as we were informed that a New South Wales official had come into contact with a COVID-19 case. We don't make those decisions lightly, but health is paramount," HRV Dayle Brown said in a statement.
"We have today suspended racing indefinitely as a precautionary measure and we'll be advised by the Chief Health Officer as we work on the next steps."
The suspension throws the 2020 Horsham Pacing Cup into doubt. The $60,000 drawcard race was scheduled for April 26.
Mr Brown said the governing body was working on contact tracing to establish the risk to those in Victoria.
"Victorian participants attended the Bathurst harness racing meeting on Friday March 20 and we are working to find out if there has been any subsequent contact between at-risk individuals and those people," he said.
"We're committed to advising industry participants of updates as soon as possible but for now racing in Victoria is suspended."
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