KEEP calm and carry on - it has become a popular slogan calling for persistence and one which is fitting when talking about this year's Bathurst Gold Crown Carnival.
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Persistence will be needed as not just the Bathurst Harness Racing Club, but the industry as a whole faces a big challenge in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
As part of a Harness Racing New South Wales mandate, all race meetings at all race tracks across the state will be closed to spectators in a bid to control the spread of the virus.
In the more than 13 years Danny Dwyer has been the chief executive officer of the Bathurst club he has seen his share of drama, but he would never have predicted a Gold Crown Carnival without spectators.
It is naturally a huge disappointment to the club as the Gold Crown Carnival is the highlight of their racing calendar and the atmosphere created by spectators - particularly on finals night - is undoubtedly special.
But Dwyer is trying to remain positive.
One thing about the racing industry is that it always bounces back.
- Danny Dwyer
"I'm not sure about the term [of the spectator ban], it could be anywhere from between two and four months, so it's not just the Gold Crown it is going to effect, it's going to be a lot more race meetings after that too," he said.
"It is disappointing, it [carnival] brings a number of people to the town as well and we'll miss that. Over the last couple of years we've organised the tours for people to do when they're here so they can see a lot of Bathurst they wouldn't normally see.
"It is what it is, we deal with it and we bounce back and go on. Hopefully everyone will be joking about it in three years' time and saying 'Remember three years ago when no crowds could watch because of coronavirus?'.
"Things will still keep going, one thing about the racing industry is that it always bounces back."
Seeing the industry bounce back is something Dwyer has experienced firsthand.
Dwyer had not long been in his role at the the club when the the industry was brought to a halt due to Equine Influenza (EI).
It not only saw race meetings cancelled, but had an impact on the breeding industry as well. It was a blow, but the sport recovered.
There have been other testing moments as well such as went the lighting system shut down during the Gold Crown Carnival's finals night in 2018.
After an hour in the dark - and a mad scramble from a handful of electricians - the lights came back on.
"When I first started, I started in February 2007 in this job and EI came in August, so the first six months I got stuck with EI. It was such a big thing and I thought 'Wow, this is such a big thing, I'll never come across anything like this again.'
"You know further down the track this has happened.
"We've had things like the lights go out on a race meeting, there's probably not too many things I haven't seen on a race track."
While there is uncertainty as to just how long the spectator ban will last, the revenue the Bathurst club will miss out on over the period of the carnival will most certainly hurt.
It means that when the ban is lifted, Dwyer knows his club will need the support of the Bathurst public to help them recover.
"It's a a significant drop of income for us over the Gold Crown and our budgeting, what we carry with the club, we are very fortunate that we've [normally] got the Gold Crown to create that extra income," he said.
"It would be nice that when we get through this period if we can get some support from the local community moving forward, over the winter time and past winter, hopefully we can recover that in the next six to nine months before the crown rolls around again.
"It's a very popular event and I think how long it's been running for is testament to how successful it's been, it's 34 this year."
Though spectators may not be track side to watch the racing unfold, there will still be quality fields as some of the nation's best two and three-year-old horses battle it out at the Bathurst Paceway.
When the carnival began on Wednesday evening, it featured the heats of the Gold Tiara series for two-year-old fillies.
On Friday the Gold Crown heats for two-year-old colts and geldings will be contested, while Monday's meeting includes the qualifiers for the twin three-year-old features - the Gold Bracelet and Gold Chalice.
The carnival will reach its crescendo on Saturday, March 28, when the Gold Crown, Gold Tiara, Gold Chalice and Gold Bracelet finals are conducted. All carry Group 1 status and total stakes of $100,000.
As is always the case, Dwyer is excited to see how it unfolds and in particular, how the Bathurst hopefuls fare.
"I think that part of it, the racing, I haven't been too worried about. There are so many two-year-olds trialling and racing, probably more than previous years," he said.
"There were five heats of the tiara on Wednesday night and six heats of the crown, so that's 11 heats in total which I think is maybe one up on last year.
"So considering the declining breeding numbers, if we are getting some growth there it shows there's a lot of two-year-olds still up and racing early in the season.
"There seems to be a bit of an influx with two-year-olds in stables here in Bathurst as well, I think there's between 60 and 80 two-year-olds in training just in the local area. That's come on the back of obviously a lot of horses being purchased at yearling sales with particularly the Gold Crown in mind and still breeding numbers around here are good too.
"So it's all systems go this year ... I'm sure we'll get good racing."