July target date

Owners and some race club members could be back at the races in July, according to Racing Victoria Chief Executive Giles Thompson.

He told RSN that June 22 was a key date as the Victorian state government announces any changes on further relaxing COVID-19 restrictions.

RV had a working group that was looking at ways to get owners and race club members back on course.

"Our aim is to get people back to courses as soon as we can," Thompson said. "July is a possibility, there's no doubt about that. "

Flights back on

Following successful negotiations between New Zealand and Australian authorities, New Zealand equine exports are set to resume early next month.

Horse flights from New Zealand were temporarily suspended due to a positive case of equine piroplasmosis being discovered in a horse set for export.

Flights will resume in early June with horses able to be exported under new certification conditions. Future shipments will see a slightly longer lead in time due to the additional testing requirements for piroplasmosis.

Jockey sidelined

Group 1-winning jockey Matthew McGillivray will miss Saturday's Doomben meeting after he was injured in a fall at the Sunshine Coast on Wednesday night.

McGillivray parted company from Bel Strider (Unusual Suspect {USA}) in race six and was taken to hospital.

Queensland Jockeys’ Association boss Glen Prentice said McGillivray suffered apparent concussion after being knocked out and was complaining of neck soreness.

Stewards took evidence before adjourning an inquiry into the fall until McGillivray can attend.

Cup plans

Trainers Andrew Forsman and Murray Baker have high Melbourne spring carnival hopes for The Chosen One (NZ) (Savabeel), who may still contest both of the feature staying races whatever order they are run in.

One of the options on the table the Melbourne Racing Club is exploring is moving the G1 Caulfield Cup to the end of November.

“It would have been one of the key races we’d look to run him in,” Forsman said. “It depends what they replace it with or what the schedule is leading into a Melbourne Cup. It is a bit of a grey area.”

Should the proposed rescheduling take place, Forsman said it would still be viable to contest the famed Cups double in reverse order and said dropping back 800 metres in distance would not be impossible.

“It is probably not that difficult to be honest, once they’re up and at peak fitness.”

Purton clear

Zac Purton has moved three wins clear in his quest for another Hong Kong Jockeys' Premiership with his latest winning treble at Sha Tin.

After four wins apiece on last Sunday's program, Purton and Joao Moreira locked on 123 wins. The latter was suspended and sat out Wednesday night’s meeting.

Purton, who claimed his first in the 2013/14 season and is chasing his third straight this year, pounced with a hat-trick of wins on the all-weather track.

Winkers on

Gotta Kiss (Not A Single Doubt) will race in winkers for the first time in the Listed XXXX Gold Bill Carter S. at Doomben on Saturday.

Trainer Steve O’Dea said the filly worked well in the head gear this week and is hoping it will cure her tendency to lay in under pressure.

Gotta Kiss is fourth on the order of entry for the G1 JJ Atkins on Saturday week, but O'Dea will make a call after Saturday and how she comes through the race.

She has won three of her six starts, including a stylish display to score at Doomben last time out.

Trainer excited

Hall of Fame trainer Graeme Rogerson is throwing all of his support behind New Zealand racing’s return from its coronavirus-enforced hiatus.

Training in partnership with his wife Debbie and grand-daughter Bailey, Rogerson plans to have more than two dozen runners at the first northern race meeting, which is currently scheduled for Te Rapa on July 4.

“Obviously the lockdown is something you’d rather not have to do, but we’ve come through it alright,” Rogerson said. “We’re fortunate to have our own private place, it’s a great facility, and it makes it easy for us to keep our horses ticking over. So we’ve got a lot of horses who will be ready to go.

“We’ll probably have 40 trialling at Te Rapa on June 9, then another group at Ellerslie a week later. Once we get to the first race meeting at Te Rapa, I think we’ll have 30 or 40 runners.

“It’s been good to be able to watch Hong Kong and Australian racing over the last few weeks, but I can’t wait to see us get our racing up and running again. It’s very exciting.”