No change planned for Sires’ Stakes and Harness Million Features

20 August 2020

Courtesy HRNZ

The New Zealand Sires’ Stakes Board has no plans to re-schedule its upcoming races, despite the uncertainty caused by COVID-19.

The first of the finals is the Garrard’s NZ 2 Year Old Sires’ Stakes Final (G1) at Alexandra Park on September 18.

The fact that it’s in less than a month has some in the industry questioning what impact the pandemic will have on the final, and other up-coming Sires’ Stakes races.

“Really nothing changes for the moment,” says NZ Sires’ Stakes executive Martin Pierson, “we are going about our business as planned.”

“I know some South Island trainers and owners especially are concerned because under Level 3 their horses can head to Auckland but they can’t. It’s not ideal.”

Pierson says horses will start heading north next week. In the meantime he says his hands are tied, as the Government decides on alert levels.

“If we are all on Level 2 I can’t envisage any problems. If there continues to be a disparity between Auckland and the rest of the country then it’s potentially going to get tricky for the participants not the horses. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”