Coronavirus hits Asian Racing Conference as China's delegates stay at home

One of racing’s biggest international gatherings, the Asian Racing Conference, being held in Cape Town from Wednesday to Friday this week, will have significant British and Irish representation but a depleted presence from the organisers’ most heavily populated jurisdictions.

Coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan in China, has had a noticeable impact on attendance at the 38th ARC, which is staged every 18 months on a rotating basis around the 21 full members of the Asian Racing Federation (ARF), the secretariat of which is provided by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

All delegates from mainland China who had registered for the event have agreed to stay away, although none had been to Wuhan recently. China does not have a central governing authority for horseracing but had had a significant presence at the last two ARCs, in Mumbai and Seoul.

In addition, the HKJC, which has taken extreme measures to prevent the potential for spreading the virus at Happy Valley and Sha Tin race meetings, is severely restricting its delegation at the conference.

HKJC chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, who as chairman of the ARF would normally have played a prominent part in proceedings, is a notable absentee from a delegation that was expected to number more than 50. Apart from one speaker travelling from London, its delegates arrived in Cape Town last week, including ARF secretary general Andrew Harding, who works for the HKJC, and the three-person secretariat.

A statement on behalf of ARF and the local organising committee, which noted that there has been no confirmed case of Covid-19 in South Africa, said: ”We've been closely monitoring developments following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus from Wuhan, China, in late December 2019, and have taken measures to demonstrate our commitment to ensuring the health and safety of our delegates at the 38th ARC, and to ensure that the 38th ARC will proceed as planned.”

Although BHA chief executive Nick Rust has decided against attending, for reasons unconnected with the virus, the governing body’s chair, Annamarie Phelps, will be on hand on Thursday for a panel session examining the key threats to racing’s integrity.

Annamarie Phelps: will be attendanceCredit: Bryn Lennon (Getty Images)

Immediately afterwards, BHA chief regulatory officer Brant Dunshea will join three HKJC integrity executives, including Martin Purbrick and former BHA betting analyst Tom Chignell, to update delegates on the work of the ARF anti-illegal betting taskforce.

Also on Thursday – when Britain’s new Horse Welfare Board is expected to publish its first strategy planning report – the fourth International Forum for the Aftercare of Racehorses (IFAR) will be held alongside the conference. The event will be chaired by Di Arbuthnot, chief executive of Retraining of Racehorses, whose counterpart at World Horse Welfare, Roly Owers, will be one of the speakers.

The conference opens on Wednesday with a panel session on ‘wagering and digitalisation’, with Ascot chief operating officer Alastair Warwick among the speakers, followed by a discussion on ‘innovative race concepts’, which will involve Horse Racing Ireland chief executive Brian Kavanagh.

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