Coronavirus and racing – what happens now?

All meetings in Britain to be without spectators until end of March at earliest.

British racing will take place behind closed doors from Tuesday this week, initially until the end of March, to mitigate spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Here, PA Racing addresses the implications – and the possibility of next month’s Grand National going ahead:

What are the British Horseracing Authority’s provisions for continuing to stage racing?

The BHA has already announced its plan to run meetings without spectators, confirming on Monday recommendations agreed by the industry steering group. In a statement, BHA chief executive Nick Rust said: “We are following the Government’s advice to strike a balance between protecting public health and maintaining business activity and will continue to do so. We thank our customers and staff for their support.”

Asked on what basis fixtures might be cancelled to keep the fixture list “sustainable”, Rust said: “Based on availability of staff and the practicalities of staging events with no income from spectators.”

Why is racing still going ahead at all?

The steering group has religiously followed Government advice ever since it was first established in the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak. The vast majority of other sports, nationally, have in turn taken their own unilateral decisions to suspend fixtures – in keeping with global trends rather than official UK advice to date. In a statement on Sunday, the BHA said: “Racing has continued to observe the Government’s request for a proportionate response that takes into account public health and the impact on jobs and businesses.”

In France, racing has been completely suspended from Tuesday until April 15.

What happens if a jockey or trainer contracts coronavirus?

This is a moot point. In football, the Premier League’s decision last week to suspend its calendar until next month followed a day after Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta announced he had tested positive. Official advice remains that, once a case is confirmed or obvious coronavirus symptoms are displayed, an individual should ‘self-isolate’ at home – along with those who have been in close contact. A weighing-room situation, especially, would appear to fall into that bracket.

Can 500 people staff a safe Grand National?

Opinion is divided, and clarification on how far numbers could be pared down is under discussion. As guidance, Kelso clerk of the course Anthea Morshead estimated the staffing and attendance figure for Monday’s meeting – the first in Scotland to be held behind closed doors – would be “comfortably short of the 500”. Aintree is, of course, a vastly different proposition. The Kelso card had 35 published horses running – while on Grand National day last year, there were 129. Stringent arrangements for closed-doors racing in Ireland have allowed one trainer and groom per horse – with no catering or bookmaker facilities. Even assuming those stipulations applied at Aintree, it is difficult to imagine the essential groundstaff, medical cover – and media, for a globally broadcast event – would not exceed 500.

How much money may be lost?

The projected hospitality and commercial revenue, on course and for the local economy, is not on a comparable scale to the eye-watering £100million plus quoted for the Cheltenham Festival – which went ahead, albeit with slightly reduced crowds, last week. However, up to £50million could be expected to be generated in Liverpool from the annual event. Whether it were cancelled or run behind closed doors, that amount would of course be largely lost. A modern National could be expected to accrue up to £300million in global betting turnover – and the participation of a ‘people’s horse’ favourite such as Tiger Roll can only enhance figures. The potential downgrading effect, for the bookmaking industry, of staging the event behind closed doors is unique circumstance and therefore impossible to quantify.

Could the Grand National be rescheduled later in the year?

This solution is already being applied in a number of other sports – including the mass-participation London Marathon, which has been put back from late April to early October. Racing’s crowded and relentless calendar makes that contingency perhaps less likely. If the Grand National were lost next month, then there is every chance the same fate would befall the remainder of this spring’s scheduled National Hunt Festivals. Aintree has much lower-key evening fixtures in May and June, and then races again in October and November. In 1997, the 150th Grand National was delayed by two days because of a bomb scare. Putting it back six months or more would be another first. Horses are not machines, either, and many, including Tiger Roll, are being trained to peak for the first Saturday in April, not a date in July.

The Flat season is about to start – does that face disruption as well?

Doncaster’s Lincoln meeting, the traditional starting point of the turf summer, is scheduled on March 28 – which falls into the anticipated timescale of the BHA’s intention to stage meetings behind closed doors. Martin Cruddace, chief executive of Arena Racing Company – which runs 16 British courses, including Doncaster – has predicted: “It is absolutely possible we won’t race again in front of a crowd until the end of June.” Newmarket’s Classics and the Epsom Derby are among the annual Flat highlights set to take place before then.

Follow us on Twitter racing365dotcom and like our Facebook page.

Latest