Although most sports have halted in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, one that has been allowed to continue, under very strict conditions, has been horse racing.
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Armidale Jockey Club held their scheduled meet on Sunday but no crowds were allowed under Racing NSW's strict protocol.
"It was very different, that is for sure," Armidale Jockey Club's secretary-manager Jim Dedes said
"Racing NSW have got very strict protocols to follow.
"We had security guards there to make sure there was nobody coming into the place, only trainers and strappers allowed.
"It is a very, very strict policy. It is the only way racing is going to survive.
"All the jockeys were put in different groups from where they came from, we had about five different jockey rooms.
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"The trainers were grouped to their towns, all the Armidale trainers were together but separated sort of thing.
"We have got disinfectant for all the jockeys to wipe their gear down after each race.
"We had cleaners going through the place wiping down everything every half hour."
The club had just got back into the swing of things with their Cup meeting at the start of March before coronavirus hit but Dedes was thankful they can still operate.
"Racing employs 250,000 people, so to close it down would put people out of work," he said.
"And where are the horses going to go? You can't just put thousands and thousands of horses out in paddocks, they have to be looked after so this is the best way.
"All the stables have got strict protocol to follow, it can be done and as long as everyone adheres to the rules we should be safe to race.
"We are running and people can still watch at home on the TV if they have got the racing channels on and have a bit of a flutter if they want to with the TAB apps."
On the track, the opening race saw a positive start for Armidale locals with Geoffrey Snowden guiding Mark Ostini's Luck in Running beating Brad Munro's Italian Tune to the line.
Diamonds Are Good was victorious 1100 metres in the Tony Williams Machinery Maiden Handicap, then Coffs Harbour trainer Jim Jarvis snared the third win of the day with The Timewarp.
The fourth race of the day saw Cody Morgan's Shamusu Sho storming home by five lengths. Guyra's Ian Cook snared a win on the day as well with Lord Magnussen in a Benchmark 58 Handicap over 1400m.
Paul Smith's Delayed Response won the Benchmark 66 Handicap over 1900m. Luff took out the victory for Jeremy Sylvester in the Bob's Class 2 Handicap before Brett Bellamy's All About Charlie won Benchmark 58 Handicap over 1100m.
The club will host another meet on April 19, which was originally scheduled to be the Guyra Cup but that has been postponed, before another one on April 25 and May 26 before closing up for winter.