Racing Queensland is taking measures to ensure business continuity of greyhound racing operations in response to COVID-19.
As part of these measures, some RQ staff will be performing their work functions from home as of Thursday, March 19, 2020.
Phone Nominations (1800 851 155)
From Thursday, March 19, the daily phone nomination line will be attended by fewer RQ staff members.
Due to this, stakeholders are likely to experience instances where the nomination line is engaged.
To alleviate phone traffic, the daily nomination phone line will be opened for an extra hour from 7.30am to 9.30am.
Please note nominations will NOT be accepted by voice message.
If the nomination line is busy, stakeholders are advised to hang up and try again later.
RQ requests that conversations are generally kept short during nomination time to reduce traffic on the line.
Online Nominations
RQ recommends that trainers utilise online nominations as much as possible for the foreseeable future.
Trainers currently using phone nominations are encouraged to migrate to online nominations to alleviate traffic on the daily nomination phone line.
For assistance with online nominations please call RQ on 07 3869 9776 to set-up a new online nominations account, or to renew an existing account.
Nomination Schedule
The nomination schedule remains the same except:
That nominations for the Albion Park Thursday meeting will close on Tuesday morning at 9.30am.
Scratchings
All scratchings close with RQ at 8.30am on the day of the race meeting, except for the following meetings:
- Capalaba closes at 8.30am on Saturday morning; and
- Bundaberg closes at 8.30am on Sunday morning.
Scratchings can be made online via OzChase, or by phone on (07) 3869 9759.
Late scratchings (after 8.30am) are processed by QRIC race day stewards. During business hours call 07 3174 0581. Outside business hours call the relevant race club.
Patron-free racing
Earlier this week, RQ advised that all race meetings and trial sessions across Queensland will be conducted without patrons until further notice.
As a consequence, attendance at all Queensland greyhound racing meetings and trial sessions will be restricted to essential personnel, outlined as follows:
- Licensed greyhound trainers with greyhounds engaged to race or stewards trial at a race meeting, or to trial at a trial session;
- Licensed greyhound trainers or attendants specifically required to attend a race meeting or trial session so as to enable a particular greyhound to race, e.g. by handling the greyhound, boxing the greyhound or catching the greyhound;
- Essential support personnel of trainers, such as persons required to assist trainers in commuting to race meetings or trial sessions at which they have greyhounds racing;
- Queensland Greyhound Racing Integrity Commission stewards and officials;
- RQ officials;
- Essential club employees and race meeting contractors, including vision and broadcast providers;
- Club officials and/or committee members carrying out a formal duty at the race meeting or trial session; and
- RQ accredited media as approved by Racing Queensland and the race club.
Hygiene and social distancing
The intent of the patron-free racing is to assist the community obligation to uphold social distancing principles where at all possible.
Personal actions to assist include:
- Covering your coughs and sneezes with your elbow or a tissue;
- Disposing of tissues properly;
- Washing your hands often with soap and water or alcohol based sanitisers, including before and after eating, after going to the toilet, and after using shared equipment such as racing rugs;
- Cleaning and sanitising frequently used objects such as mobiles, keys and wallets;
- Avoiding large public gatherings if they’re not essential;
- Keeping a distance of 1.5 metres between you and other people whenever possible;
- Minimising physical contact, especially with people at higher risk such as older people and people with existing health conditions; and
- Supporting social distancing enhancements introduced by QRIC, RQ, and Club officials at race meetings.