The Driving Horse and Pony Club has received the green light to resume harness racing at the National Equestrian Centre.

The delayed 2021-22 season will begin on Sunday and will conclude on April 3 with the prestigious Champion of Champions races taking centre stage at the Vesey Street racetrack.

All race days are SafeKey events.

“We have received Bermuda Government approval to return to sport so the 2021-22 race season will soon be under way,” the association said in a statement.

Local harness racing has remained dormant since it was suspended last December when a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases on the island led to a government shutdown of sporting activities.

The association had hoped to resume racing in March but ultimately decided to end the 2020-21 season early in February after taking a number of key factors into consideration.

“Unfortunately, given the restrictions in place, the DHPC committee had to make the decision that it was not viable to resume our race season as we had hoped,” Colin Mello, the DHPC president, told The Royal Gazette in a recent interview.

Candyce Martins, who blazed to a Bermuda-bred record and lifetime best of 1:02.2 with eight-year-old mare Double Time, was among the highlights of the abbreviated campaign.