Racing committee plans for 1 June restart

Senior executives from British horseracing have “committed to plan for resumption” after the government gave the green light for the sport to return behind closed doors from 1 June at the earliest.

In its document, Our Plan to Rebuild, the government said it planned for sporting and cultural events to resume behind closed doors as part of the second step of lifting the current restrictions.

The date for resumption will be subject to an assessment by public health officials and will also be conditional on the UK meeting the government’s five tests for easing lockdown measures. Until these tests are met, current restrictions will remain in place.

In a statement, Racing’s Executive Committee, which includes the British Horseracing Authority, the Racecourse Association, The Racehorse Owners’ Association and the National Trainers Federation, committed to publishing a timeline to resume the sport.

The BHA has already been working on plans to resume the sport behind closed doors in a way that would minimise risk for participants by introducing social distancing measures and stringent infection controls.

The plans have also involved the development of new processes and protocols, which will require significant adjustments to ‘normal’ race-day practices.

In its statement, the Executive Committee emphasised that it will be focusing its efforts during the remainder of May on ‘finalising and agreeing these changes across the industry and supporting everyone to understand and adopt them’.