Swan Hill Jockey Club boss Aaron Garvie concedes it is likely his club's carnival in June will be cut down to either one or two days due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Swan Hill is one of two big three day country carnivals normally coming up in the next few months, with Warrnambool's May Carnival also on the horizon.

Racing Victoria (RV) and the Warrnambool Racing Club (WRC) have today released a revamped two-day program for the 2020 TAB Warrnambool May Racing Carnival.

Garvie said the club understands the exceptional circumstances surrounding this year's carnival and would be thankful just to be racing.

"As it stands right now, from our point of view at the club, the best-case scenario under these conditions is that we race, whether that's one, two or three days," Garvie said.

"We may race without crowds but at least we are racing."

Garvie said the club would try and compact the carnival's feature races - including the Cup and the Golden Topaz - into however many days they end up getting.

"That would be our preference and ideally we get all of the main races on the one day if we do go to one day," he said.

Garvie said the lack of attendance on course would have 'massive implications from a financial perspective' for the club.

"We are just working through some modelling at the moment about how it's going to look and what we can do to make the effect of that as less as possible," he said.

"There's no doubt it (the carnival) is crucial for making money for the club, but we've got a pretty healthy balance sheet so we will be able to get through this at least for one year. We wouldn't want to see it go on any longer than that."

Garvie said the club was already investigating any Federal or State Government grants available to it.

"We are looking into it now, especially the JobKeeper allowance that is available," he said.

"It's more than likely we will register for that and that will definitely be of assistance."

The decision to reduce the May Carnival from three days and restructure the program was made in consultation with Country Racing Victoria (CRV) and the Australian Jumping Racing Association (AJRA) in light of the impacts of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

With racing being conducted in Victoria under strict biosecurity protocols, the WRC announced on 20 March 2020 that this year’s May Carnival would be closed to all spectators, including members, owners and the general public.

Today, RV and the WRC have announced that the May Carnival will host its first all-jumps meeting on Tuesday, 5 May with the flagship Grand Annual Steeplechase (5500m) to headline a program of up to eight jumps races.

Traditional day one and two features, the Brierly Steeplechase (3450m) and Galleywood Hurdle (3200m), will also feature on what shapes as the biggest jumps racing program ever conducted in Victoria.

The second and final day of the May Carnival will be held on Wednesday, 6 May with a nine-race program exclusive to flat racing and headlined by WRC showpiece events, the Warrnambool Cup (2350m, Listed) and the Wangoom Handicap (1200m, Listed).

The decision to split the May Carnival into days exclusively for jumps and flat racing has been made to significantly reduce the number of participants needing to stay in Warrnambool and to assist in the logistics of conducting a streamlined event with essential staff only.

Following the announcement made by RV on Monday regarding prizemoney reductions to all Victorian races from 6 April 2020, prizemoney for all races across the revamped two-day May Carnival has been reduced by 10%.

WRC Chief Executive, Tom O’Connor, said: “The WRC’s focus has been on supporting the Victorian racing industry and its efforts to safely continue racing under new protocols.

“The year 2020 will mark an unprecedented one for the WRC with the need to host our Carnival over two days with exclusive jumps and flat racing meetings.

“With that said, the Warrnambool community and broader racing industry can be rest assured that this will be a once off. The TAB May Racing Carnival will return over three days in 2021, bigger and better than ever.”

The revamped program for the 2020 TAB Warrnambool May Racing Carnival is as follows:

DAY 1 - Tuesday, 5 May (All Jumps Races)

(* Will be divided into multiple divisions if there are sufficient acceptors)

DAY 2 – Wednesday, 6 May (All Flat Races)