Vic racing figure tested for coronavirus

Victorian racing has been suspended pending test results on a licensed person for COVID-19.

Racing Victoria called off Wednesday’s Sandown meeting after learning the person had been told by health authorities they were on the same commercial flight on March 12 as someone who has tested positive.

The participant is not displaying any symptoms of COVID-19 but RV said it was caution to call Sandown off as well as two meetings on Thursday at Kilmore and Pakenham.

RV said it has touched base with people who have had close contact with the licensed person.

RV chief executive, Giles Thompson, said the licensed person did the right thing by contacting the authority as soon as they were told of their situation.

“We spent a lot of time putting protocols in place and educating the participants,” Thompson told racing.com.

“The participant has done exactly the right thing and we’ve been notified and everything we put in place has swung into action.

“The whole point of these protocols is to keep racing going and prevent potential exposures.

“But when you do have a potential exposure (it is important) to contact and trace as quickly as possible and identify whether there are others that have been exposed and deal with that us well.

“Unfortunately this exposure came before those protocols were put in place, 13 days ago.”

If the test does return a negative result, RV will seek to resume racing on Friday with meetings at Warrnambool and Pakenham.