The final Group 1 meeting of the season is in chaos after an eleventh-hour change to Queensland’s COVID regulations.
The Tattersall’s Tiara meeting has been thrown into disarray after Queensland Health imposed updated COVID regulations which will prohibit some of Sydney’s highest profile jockeys from riding at Eagle Farm.
James Mcdonald and Hugh Bowman headlined a host of Sydney-based riders who scrambled to get last-minute flights to Queensland midweek before the state closed its borders to NSW.
All had been booked for mounts at the Brisbane winter carnival featuring the Group 1 Tattersall’s Tiara, the final major of the 2020-21 season.
However, the worsening COVID situation in Sydney prompted Queensland Health to change its protocols late on Friday, requiring anybody in Queensland who had visited one of four named local government areas since June 11 to isolate.
The lockdown will come into effect from the early hours of Saturday morning and will prevent six Sydney-based jockeys, including McDonald and Bowman, from riding at Eagle Farm.
“Racing Queensland advises that anyone who has been in the NSW LGAs of Waverley, Woollahra, Randwick or the City Of Sydney since June 11, 2021, is no longer permitted on a licensed Queensland training or racing venue,” Racing Queensland said in a statement.
Bowman, McDonald, Kerrin McEvoy, Josh Parr and Rachel King all rode at the Randwick Kensington meeting on June 16 and were booked for rides in Brisbane on Saturday.
Tommy Berry participated in the Randwick barrier trials on June 21 which will also rule him out.
Replacement jockeys were being sought on Friday afternoon.
