MELBOURNE has been plunged into a second lockdown following a sharp increase in Covid-19 cases with the hope of crowds returning for the spring carnival under threat.

Owners who had just been able to return to the track are once again banned with the current lockdown, which covers all of metropolitan Melbourne, set to be in place for six weeks from Thursday and finishing just nine days before the first Group 1 of Melbourne’s spring, the Memsie Stakes at Caulfield.