© Photo Healy Racing
As the Irish horse racing and breeding industry enters a fifth day since Taoiseach Leo Veradkar announced an exit strategy from lockdown there is still a lack of clarity as to what this actually means in relation to the resumption of horse racing.
The May 5 lockdown has been extended by two weeks to May 18 when the first of five phases of a gradual reopening of the economy will commence.
It was presumed that racing behind closed doors would be included in that initial phase but when a more detailed document was released by government later on Friday evening it contained a reference to ‘sports behind closed doors’ not commencing until phase three on June 29.
Horse Racing Ireland, the governing body for the industry, was widely expected to make a statement of clarification on Saturday but nothing happened. It is believed that they were as taken aback by the phase three reference as everyone else within the industry.
Horse racing had successfully run ten meetings behind closed doors prior to the beginning of the lockdown on March 25 and is considered to be one of the safest sports that can take place during this pandemic as it is both non-contact and open air.
Yesterday, after the bank holiday weekend, it was once again assumed that HRI would make contact with government and finally issue a statement but again no clarification was forthcoming.
This information vacuum has resulted in much debate on social media around the perception of horse racing by both government and the general public, particularly in the wake of Cheltenham, and how the sport’s governing body was apparently so out of step.
In reality it is the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) that is most likely calling the shots here rather than government and their number one priority in drafting the five phase reopening document was the health and safety of the nation rather than any economic implications.
So where are we now and what happens next? The lack of a statement at this stage from HRI must indicate that Phase three on June 29 is the date intended within the roadmap document for horse racing to resume.
It is now up to HRI to fight racing’s corner with the government and press for an earlier resumption of the sport behind closed doors.
HRI is not the only representative body lobbying government after the publication of Friday’s document as the Golfing union of Ireland and the Vintners’ Association among others have issues with both the lack of fine details and practicalities of the phased plan.
The roadmap appears to have been hastily drafted by NPHET and contains a number of inconsistencies and vague references such as ‘Sports behind closed doors’ in phase three and the resumption of GAA and soccer in Phase four when social distancing is still apparently a requirement.
The big question is how strong a hand does HRI have to play in negotiations with government. On the one side they represent a rural industry that employs some 15,000 full-time workers and generates around €2 billion a year for the economy. The industry has also successfully demonstrated that it can safely run behind closed doors race meetings which should be the most important factor at this time.
The flip side is that HRI is a semi-state body who’s funding is almost entirely derived from the government and this could somewhat weaken their bargaining position. Not a great idea to bite the hand that feeds you.
It is rumoured that government and HRI will meet in the middle and settle for a resumption of the sport at the phase two point of the plan which is scheduled for June 8.
At this stage most within the industry would probably settle for that as it would at least give clarity and a definite point to aim for irrespective of the fact that it will come almost one month after racing returns in France and probably several weeks behind Britain too.
June 8 will still create a number of issues for the industry not least the rescheduling of the first two Classics of the Flat season (1,000 and 2,000 Guineas due to take place on May 23/24) which will in turn have a knock-on effect on the dates for the Derby and Oaks.
Whatever the final resumption date turns out to be HRI’s failure to communicate anything with those its represents has been a major misjudgment of the needs of their industry in such worrying times.
