As events start to gear up around the world as lockdown measures ease and efforts are taken to kickstart the economy across the world, it’s looking as if the UK could be gearing up for a return in horse racing – across the world many events been continuing without fans in attendance, and these ‘ghost’ events are expected to continue for quite some time with the likely outcome being the same within the UK, but for fans across the world this can only spell good news following recent postponements and cancellations – UK racing last took place on March 17th after the races at Cheltenham had wrapped up, and everything following had to be either postponed or cancelled entirely.
The next big event set to get underway is the Royal Ascot – there were concerns around whether or not the event would see cancellation following the negative attention that Cheltenham had found as a number of attendees were confirmed to have caught COVID-19 and many suggesting that event organisers should have erred on the side of caution, but throughout the past two months Ascot organisers have suggested that although a delay, a complete cancellation of the event would remain extremely unlikely despite growing negative attention from those who would like to avoid a similar situation that had been experienced within March. Whilst things still remain tentative and await government approval as current restrictions will be re-assessed toward the end of the week, early signs are looking promising as events and sports across the country also begin to prepare to get underway again.
Irish racing is still on hold, however, as the five-phase plan set out doesn’t appear to include events such as horse racing within the early stages meaning the earliest date that it could see a return would be June 29th, which many in the Irish racing industry are deeming as catastrophic as events have been on hold since early March already – on the other hand, France have been given the green light to resume racing but this would also be without any fans in public attendance.
There is good news for fans who are feeling impatient and want to get a fix of horse racing right now – as virtual horse racing seems to be on the rise. In an effort to entertain fans, many have seen a rise in popularity within virtual events as many sites not on gamstop are beginning to offer betting odds on virtual races and virtual tournaments to tide fans over until the real races get back underway once again.
It is of course important to mention again however that many of the dates being put forward are only tentative and could be subject to change at any time – although many feel as though the lockdown restrictions will be eased in May and going forward, there is still the possibility that dates set throughout June may still change as the situation continues to change – despite an assertion that the Ascot will not be cancelled, it will always remain a possibility.
