In response to the ever-changing coronavirus situation, Harness Racing Victoria (HRV) on Monday released its calendar of events for the period from July 13 to 31 only.

HRV advised that race meetings would continue to be conducted only at Bendigo, Kilmore, Mildura, Shepparton, Melton, Ballarat, Cranbourne, Stawell and Terang during this time, leaving clubs like Charlton and Maryborough none the wiser on a return date for racing.

Charlton has not hosted a race meeting since its cup day in March and under normal circumstances was not due for another meeting until October.

But club president Joey Thompson remains hopeful racing can resume sooner rather than later, especially with the club itching to make more use of its new state-of-the-art on-track multi-purpose facility.

With COVID-19 developments rapidly changing in Victoria, Thompson said the club was 'fully understanding' of its omission from the current Victoria racing calendar and the desire of HRV not to plan too far in advance.

"Everything is so up in the air, it just changes by the minute," he said.

"As a club we just have to accept it, there is nothing we can do about it.

"As a club, I think they (HRV) have done a mighty job to keep racing running."

With Charlton trainers initially restricted to racing at Bendigo during the early period of regional racing, before being allocated to the wider East region (Bendigo, Shepparton, Kilmore and Cranbourne) until the end of June, Thompson believed the locals had adapted well.

"Generally speaking, trainers are travelling and moving about anyway," he said.

"There's no doubt would love to be racing here.

"We've spent a lot of money and a lot of effort, not just the harness racing club, but the community in general, into getting our new complex.

"I was at a meeting on Monday night with the football club and the netball club, and we were over there sitting in this magnificent building saying it would be good to be using this.

"But that's just how it is. We're accepting of it and been doing other things to keep people amused and involved like our tipping competition, which has a fair few people involved."

The new $4.2 million multipurpose sport and recreation facility at the track was officially opened late last year and used at meetings held earlier in the year.

Meanwhile, Thompson said the club was pleased to have bolstered its training ranks following the recent arrival of Mick Gadsden and Denbeigh Wade from Ararat.

"We have had some inquiries from a couple of other trainers too, and we also have the potential for a scholarship to be developed for a young trainer or young trainer-driver," said Thompson, who is one of seven trainers operating in the town, which has a population of about 1000 people.

Read more: Talented young training team makes move to Charlton

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