The Hong Kong Jockey Club has offered to hire a private jet to transport European jockeys heading to their International meeting in December as a means of cutting down on the quarantine process, reports scmp.com.
Under Hong Kong COVID-19 rules, people entering Hong Kong must spend two weeks in quarantine.
However, the HKJC has submitted an application to the Hong Kong government to cut this to one week.
Jockeys would have to return two negative samples prior to departing Europe, and then spend a week at the HKJC’s Beas River premises, before passing another COVID19 test prior to the December meeting.
The International Jockey’s Championship will be held on December 9, while the International Races will be on December 13.
“We made a case for international athletes to get this exemption and hopefully this can be considered,” HKJC CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges told the Post.
“For international athletes it is very difficult to fly from country to country. If it can’t happen, it could have a negative impact [on the quality of the events]. We will even look at a charter flight only for these guys. Despite all the measures in place for flying on a plane, there are still risks, so a special flight would reduce them even further. We are cautiously optimistic because we think we have made a strong case. We will respect public health and we will do everything that minimises risks.”
Nominations for the International meeting will be announced next week.
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