The relief of knowing Saturday's crucial Avondale Cup meeting will be staged at Ellerslie is tempered for ARC boss Paul Wilcox by the financial loss the club will still experience.
The return of Auckland to alert level 2 at midnight tonight means the meeting, a huge lead-up to Cup week at Ellerslie starting on March 6, will stay at Ellerslie rather than being transferred to a Waikato track.
It will now go ahead as planned but with limited numbers of owners and club members allowed at Ellerslie, with the Auckland Racing Club sending out emails to those who want to attend as they must register by Friday.
Those who attend must stay inside areas restricted to 100 people, not interact with the horse people and they will be asked to wear masks.
But Wilcox says not having public allowed at the meeting is a huge financial blow to the ARC as they had a large student party organised through event group Invades which would have enormously boosted both turnover and more importantly food and beverage takings.