once again, i say, look to ireland.

​The Irish Racing Authority have decided upon a policy, at least for now, of keeping calm and carrying on. In taking this decision, which I have no doubt was not taken without deep thought and long debate, the Irish have displayed foresight, courage and consideration for the many thousands of people employed in the racing industry in their country. The B.H.A., which was perhaps leaned-on more heavily by our government than the Irish government leant upon the Irish Racing Authority, took the line of least resistance and closed the door to the many thousands of people employed in the British racing industry when it might have fought for the sport to continue out of consideration to those whose livelihoods have now been put in jeopardy.
After deliberation, I am of the opinion that a good compromise between closing the door and allowing racing to continue would have been to race selectively, to have one meeting a day maximum, with no racing on a Sunday and prohibiting horses trained outside of a fifty-mile circumference of the racecourse. The same prohibition could be applied to jockeys.
On alternate days there might be jumps and flat racing, with race meetings in the north on one day and the south or Midlands the next, with all racing taking place behind closed doors, of course.
This policy would allow the sport to limp along and give a degree of hope and certainty for owners, trainers and jockeys, as well, of course, of providing an income, if greatly reduced, for the latter. We also would not lose all the major races due to be run over the next month, even if racecourses would be denied the profit hosting such days. And although I accept the Grand National could not be run in such circumstances, with perhaps the same said about the Scottish version, the Lincoln could be run, as well as the Greenham and some of the trials for the Guineas. It is not satisfactory and, as the Irish are not to allow foreign entries for their races, the racing would have to be an all-British affair, and if the Guineas were run at Newmarket it would be a wholly southern-trained affair. But, for one year, it would be better than nothing at all.
It perhaps would be unwise to allow any of the racecourses in and around London to hold meetings due to the capital being a Covid-19 hotspot. And anyway, by tomorrow or the day after London is likely to be in lockdown, as is the case with Rome and other big cities in Europe. But the wide-open spaces of Newmarket must be a perfectly acceptable place to hold a race-meeting in these disturbing times. It is where the war-time classics were run and if Epsom were deemed too close to London, Newmarket could step in again. In fact, if only one racecourse could be used for flat racing Newmarket would be the choice of the majority as only a few horses would need to travel, the same of which could be said for trainers and jockeys.
The B.H.A. seems happier to recompensate jockeys, all of whom, remember, are self-employed, with hand-outs rather than to apply lateral thinking to the problem. For how long the Irish will be allowed to continue to paddle their own canoe is anyone’s guess but at least in the interim they have displayed initiative and foresight. If only the B.H.A. had done likewise. Or even if those whose lives have been made difficult by their decision would rise-up in unison and demand they revisit their hasty  decision to abandon rather than postpone, to pull-up stumps rather than bat for the industry they represent and all those whose livelihoods is dependent upon racing continuing, if only in limited form.