In announcing the move, Premier Peter Gutwein said that racing had been identified as one of the businesses that had "a greater social interaction risk" and the shutdown was designed to protect people in regional and rural communities.

"Race meets draw people from all over the state - many of them live in regional and rural Tasmania," he said.

"What we don't want to do is to increase the risks to those regional and rural communities (by allowing) people to come together at one location as they have been for race meetings."

However the decision was lambasted by some key industry figures and branded "totally unnecessary".

One of Australia's leading syndicators, Joe O'Neill, who has raced many horses in Tasmania, predicted it would "wreck the local industry.

"I think it's disgraceful - beyond belief," O'Neill said.

"There have been no positive coronavirus cases in Tasmanian racing and no breaches of the strict protocols that have been put in place.

"I think Tasmania has missed a great opportunity - if the rest of the country closes down, Tasmania had a chance to keep going because of its isolation.

"If that happened, betting turnover would have gone through the roof and it would have set up your local industry for years to come."

Tasmanian Jockeys Association general manager Kevin Ring described the decision as "spineless".

"It will decimate the industry in Tasmania," Ring said.

"Our jockeys will go interstate; the kids from Asia that are riding here will have to go home because they'll get no assistance and owners will drop out of the industry.

"Racing has been doing the right thing and for the Premier to say he's just acting responsibly is as weak as."

Leading jockey Craig Newitt said he was stunned by the decision.

He said he personally would find it extremely difficult to move interstate, where racing is continuing, due to the strict travel restrictions.

"I've got my four kids to think about so I just can't hop on a plane somewhere," he said.

"I'll have to do some thinking because I can't survive without an income for four weeks."

Leading trainer Scott Brunton expressed similar sentiments.

Brunton has 75 horses in work, employs 15 staff and uses five jockeys, leaving him with a weekly wage bill of about $20,000 to $22,000.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," he told the racing.com web site.

"How do I feed my kids?

"They said you're able to keep your staff going and do the essentials just to be able to continue on - but how do they expect me to pay wages?

"The money will run out. How can I charge people (to train their horses) when their horses can't race?"

Mr Gutwein said many industry participants would be eligible for federal and state support.

"Tasracing will in coming days announce measures to further assist these people," he said.

Participants responsible for the welfare of racing animals will be able to continue their important work.

"These include vets, farriers and those who feed animals and those that keep them in work in order to keep them fit."

Mr Gutwein said training facilities would remain open as they were classified as businesses.

Tasracing said it would be working closely with the Minister for Racing Jane Howlett on a support package.

Tasracing chief executive Paul Eriksson said details of the support package would be announced as soon as they were finalised.

Mr Eriksson said that the public health advice about the industry continuing to operate was clear, and while disappointed, the government had little choice but to follow that advice.

"Animal welfare will be a key issue for the industry to manage during this shutdown period," he said.

"These racing animals are high-performance athletes and their care, exercising and maintenance is a 24-hour, 7-day a week task.

"Stopping racing does not stop this need - lower exercise regimes which this shutdown will enforce could contribute to other issues upon our return.

"It could take an extra four to 12 weeks to get the animal back into racing condition."

Jane Howlett acknowledged that the decision would be a blow to 5000 participants across the three racing codes, many of whom were reliant on the continuation of the industry for their incomes.

Harness participants will be particularly hard hit by the shutdown.

Whereas the major thoroughbred summer carnival is now over, harness racing had some of its richest races coming up in the next couple of months.

They included the Launceston Pacing Club's $75,000 Easter Cup which was scheduled for Easter Saturday night.

Heats of the biggest harness event in Northern Tasmania were to have been run on Sunday night.

The loss of three race meetings on Good Friday will also be a blow to the whole industry as they would have generated high betting turnover.