There will be no racing at Borrowdale Park on Friday. Maybe next week.

The Mashonaland Turf Club have issued the following Press Release:

The MTC has been working closely with the Ministry for Youth, Sports, Art and Recreation in their efforts to safely allow the resumption of Sport in Zimbabwe during this COVID-19 pandemic. We would like to thank the Minister for taking the initiative and categorizing the various sports into risk categories which at least manages the expectations of the various sporting organisations as to when their respective sports may recommence.

The MTC fully supports the Minister and her team to bring clarity to this process where none existed before and whilst we are of course disappointed that we are unable to race at the moment we are confident the Minister has heard our case and arguments for as early resumption as is possible.

During this time of National Crisis, we urge other sports, whether they are professionally based such as Horse racing or for purely recreational purposes to support our Minister in her efforts to convince her colleagues in Government to allow sports and recreation to open up in a safe and time-appropriate manner. We can do this by following the guidance that the Ministry and SRC may publish and to not try to circumnavigate such guidance for their own parochial self-interest. Such circumnavigation will only be seized upon by other interest groups as proof that Sports cannot be trusted with an early release from the ‘lockdown’ and we believe that will be counter-productive for all sports in the medium term.

Gary Carter
Chairman Mashonaland Turf Club