No approval granted for KMTC Boxing Day horse race meet

There will be no Boxing Day horse race meet this year. This was confirmed to News Room Sport on Friday by Honorary President of the Kennard’s Memorial Turf Club (KMTC), Justice Cecil Kennard.

KMTC is the organising body of the event, which has been held on December 26 for several decades.

Justice Kennard told this news outlet that approval was not granted to the KTMC by the National COVID-19 Task Force, citing the rise in coronavirus cases in recent weeks.

Justice Kennard said the KMTC would like to apologise to horse owners and sponsors, noting that the decision to cancel the event was beyond the Club’s control.

The KMTC had written to the authorities a few weeks ago seeking approval to host the event.

President of the Club, Dennis Deroop, had told News Room Sport in early November that initial planning had already started, and the intention was to have an event that was in compliance with the existing COVID-19 protocols.

The provisional programme had seven races, and the organisers were hoping to stream the event live or have a delayed broadcast.

Events on the provisional programme were the L Class Open (1100m), Two-Year-Old (1100m), Three-Year-Old (1400m), K Class (1100m), L Class non-winner (1100m), H Class (1400m) and J Class (1400m).