A prominent racing figure expects to be out of pocket close to $100,000 following the Tasmanian government's announcement on Thursday to introduce a firm 28-day ban right across the industry.
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Premier Peter Gutwein explained that the shutdown was to protect the spread of coronavirus over concerns of those present at the track in thoroughbreds, harness or greyhounds were at a greater social interaction risk coming from all parts of the state.
No trainer is more affected in Tasmania than Ben Yole.
The 35-year-old works with 75 runners, but has around 100 in total on his books.
"It's massive loss of money for me. It's probably nearly six figures a month," he said.
But Yole seemed to sound more concerned for owners that were struggling to pay the bills than trainers are.
This is despite the man, who had nearly 200 winners last year, cannot walk away and take another job so to ensure the welfare of the horses while under his control.
"It's hard to put a figure on it all. There's just massive operating costs to feed races horses," Yole said.
"We've had a lot of owners that have lost their jobs or business on the mainland.
"It's a domino affect and without racing, it's crucified everyone because if they are struggling a bit, they can still earn some money through racing. The knock-on affect has hurt a lot of people."
The industry is waiting to hear from the government that a relief package will be announced on either Monday or Tuesday to help look after horses and to protect a number of grassroots jobs.
Yole's words had portrayed anxiety among the industry.
"The quicker that can be announced, the better for a lot of people's mental health and worrying about where they are heading, especially on the welfare side of things. I mean they stopped our business, but we just can't shut the doors," he said.
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"The overheads are just massive, especially with the livestock and the animals, let alone wages and our list of costs just goes on.
"A lot of people get paid out of racing, but the stress, all the overheads is certainly weighing on us at the moment until we find out what sort of help we may get."
Yole had been on the front foot during regular contact with Minister for Racing Jane Howlett and Tasracing.
But the Sidmouth trainer always thought there was a clear understanding from the government that racing was implementing strict controls.
Temperature checks at regular intervals have been a part of daily statewide races.
The decision left the state a pariah in the industry not to be racing across Australia.
"We knew something was going to happen - you'd have to be living under a rock if you didn't think so," he said.
"But really, it was a shock after we just had the racing licence extended."
Yole was also infuriated that the government did not trust racing to self-regulate during its meetings.
"They put these things in place and everyone seem to be towing the line, doing the right thing and we hadn't had any reports of anyone not doing the right thing. It's been a shame that it's been pulled out from underneath us," he said.
Despite being critical of the decision, Yole is hoping there can be some benefit from having the ban in place.
He is confident that racing will come out of its imposed quarantine stronger.
"We're pretty critical that everyone else is still racing," Yole said. "But there is a flip side to it that we may be the first ones back up when everyone is in shut down."
But it's just the uncertainty that concerns most people behind the scenes, Yole said.
"We really just don't know where we're heading. We're going to need a start date, which they haven't," he said.
"We'll give our horses a rest, but if we get to 28 days and they say it's another 28 days, we're a long way away."
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