When will we see you again?

The strange year of 2020 continues with second lockdowns and racing still operating behind closed doors. We recap the year that has been and take a look to the future

IT SEEMS SUCH A LONG TIME AGO now since March, since essentially what will come to be known as the pre-COVID-19 era.

Of course, by last March we had been watching lockdown in Italy, and some of us had been to Saudi Arabia when thought had been given towards the concept, “Should I be travelling?”, but still went anyway.

In Saudi, there were some travellers from the Far East wearing face masks, there was already a feeling of some discomfort when stood in the busy airport halls, chats with press members from Japan confirmed that this Chinese thing from bats was not nice. But, in reality, life was not too affected.

A couple of weeks later at Cheltenham things had stepped up a notch – hand sanitisers had been put out, though largely ignored by the throngs of racegoers – and chats there with German press assured us they had not been to Italy and they were healthy. There were rumours that this thing was a more than just a bad case of flu, large numbers f deaths had begun to be quoted.

But, really, the magnitude of events to come were not envisaged by many.

Then, life changed, and is still changed.

Lockdown. Racing stopped, shops closed, no one could move, pubs and restaurants were empty, Big Brother was watching – and reporting – you. There was overriding fear for the health of vulnerable relatives.

The dread of watching those press conferences and seeing death charts ever climbing. Sadly, some lost loved ones, opening up holes in personal lives that will never be filled. The reality of a global pandemic.

And then things started to level and fall, and we began to see a brighter horizon.

So… hey ho…lockdown it will be only six weeks, the British get-on-with-it attitude will see us through, the health issues will be under some control. We will be back to normality… no more fake enthusiasm for ridiculous home hobbies never to be attempted again, taking part in Raw Egg Challenges, becoming advocates of meetings by Zoom (“Who knew we could do this? Isn’t it great?” we enthused in digital glory) or exercising like a lunatic with the dog in the sitting room, or stressing how businesses and jobs and work and livelihoods and relationships would survive.

Racing returned, first in France and then the UK. All under the mantra of behind-closed-doors, and with a new look, once-in-a-lifetime programme book. There was some argument (as always in this industry) about the best way to go and some stomping of feet, but a way forward was found – Classic dates were reversed, NH racing stopped, Royal Ascot held firm, protocols put in place, no owners allowed. Ireland was a little later, but it got there too.

So for the summer Flat season there was some resemblance of business as usual; the programme book found its way back to the routine that has been produced by two centuries of the sport. To all intents and purposes all was the same.

Unless, of course, you were at the races. There you were struck by emptiness of stadia designed to hold lots and lots of people, and the importance that the interaction a swell of crowd-emotion can produce. Who knew we were such socially sensitive and emotive, pack creatures?

We were born with incredible abilities – good vision, hearing, brains that can analyse and feel emotion… as human beings we seem to like to use them to the full.

Of course, some professionals laughed and said how much they preferred the quieter environment, especially for debuting young horses, but it is not a sustainable situation. Professional sport is there for entertainment – racing is lucky as it can tick that off with its betting wings and its TV coverage, but it is there for personal participation, too.

So the summer’s calls for crowds to be re-introduced grew, and plans for trial days were put in place... most were cancelled in the chiming of zero hour, but a handful of lucky Warwick regulars got to the races in September and can still claim honours as the only UK racegoers since March.

As I write this we are back in UK lockdown, mirroring situations in France and Ireland; the idea that this pandemic was just a short to mid-term issue that could be worked around fully extinguished.

The strange year of 2020 continues with second lockdowns and racing still operating behind closed doors. We recap the year that has been and take a look to the future

Racing and some professional sport has continued, the breeding stock sales given the go-ahead, our industry is lucky.

You might be reading this in an extended lockdown with that daily press conference graph laughing at us like a sickening grim reaper as it climbs ever upward; or we might now be confident that the circuit breaker has achieved its aims, held COVID-19 dormant for Christmas and the arrival of Santa Claus. Maybe life is just in limbo until the much-heralded vaccine arrives?

Who knows? The uncertainty is back in lives and our businesses. This is not going anywhere in a hurry.

Most of us have been lucky enough to have enjoyed our lives in a nations largely financially secure and free from war. Aside from the threat of terrorism, our countries have not in recent years had to be concerned with day to day survival.

Will that be a memory now with the ever-warring spectre of virus? Will one of these hastly developed vaccines, solutions that governments are clinging to, provide the answer?

So where do we go from here? What plans can be made for our horseracing bubble?

Well, we have learnt that we can adapt and alter and try things new. Any ideas that could be to the improvement of the sport of horseracing could be enacted… if they work great, if they don’t, well, we can take a look at the reasons why.

Change does not have to be permanent and the right solution is not always discovered immediately

And blame should not be hoisted on those brave enough to take a new step to the future.

Now is the chance for those who can make those moves to take them; it is probably the biggest opportunity ever to right some of the wrongs that UK racing has been dealing with for a generation.

The current apparent behind-the-scenes mutterings of a new way forward needs finds a public voice.

Julia Harrington, the incoming CEO of the BHA, needs support. She is taking over on a war footing, and she and her team will be making tough decisions in an unexpected, unknown environment.

This next thought is a call we have put out before, but it is essential that racing is marketed and promoted and run as a business as a whole. We’d argue that it is critical for the sport to develop a comprehensive

industry-driven British racing website for racegoers, race fans and those who are one-time-interested.

Where is the one-stop shop now? An accessible industry-produced website or hub for people to go to if they want to follow the news?

Or to see where racing is scheduled over the next month with an easy online Ticketmaster-type ticket buying process? Bulk buying of tickets over the season with discounts available?

What an opportunity it would be to launch something new online with the hoped-for new dawn of crowd racing in 2021?

What exciting and innovative options is racing planning to offer if the behind-closed-doors scenario has to continue?

On a wider theme, it is so important that, despite Brexit, the unity between British and Irish and European bloodstock is strengthened, that the global appeal of purchasing bloodstock from Europe continues to draw in investors and buyers.

That the links between bloodstock and racing are strengthened – that the programme book supports the other and vice versa. That must be at all levels especially for “grassroots” racing, and the under-pressure middle market and below.

That bloodstock is recognised for its essential skills at bringing in new owners and participants, for ensuring that cash comes back into the sport instead of flowing elsewhere.

That we ensure the racing and bloodstock houses are kept in order from a welfare and drug-use perspective.

That anyone who wants to become involved – as an owner, jockey, trainer, breeder, staff member, racegoer – can do so.

That this great bloodstock and racing melting pot continues to give opportunities and chances and dreams for all – at whatever level and point they desire.

Finally, we offer our congratulations. As we went to press the news was released that the UK government has included a £40 million loan scheme for racing as part of its “Sport Winter Survival Package”. Well done to all who ensured that racing, the country’s second biggest spectator sport, was included. Let’s hope it is just a necessary stop-gap as we return to normality and crowd participation in 2021.

To an extent racing continued as usual in 2020 and, as always, new champions were found (top to bottom): Ghaiyyath, Palace Pier, Serpentine, Hollie Doyle and Mehmas