David Ord feels the BHA are right to suspend racing amid the coronavirus pandemic
The news that racing in the UK will shudder to a halt had increasingly seemed inevitable over the last 24 hours.
The coronavirus pandemic that is disrupting and claiming lives worldwide had already decimated the global sporting calendar. But somehow we stood alone.
Last week’s Cheltenham Festival took place, rightly so as it was following government guidelines of the time, but as the week progressed and the spread of the disease in this country grew by the day, it came under increased scrutiny.
By the time Al Boum Photo retained his Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday both the Premier League and EFL had temporarily brought the shutters down on their own competitions.
Golf cancelled their flagship events, Formula One called off their season-opening Australian Grand Prix, and the entire tennis calendar was on hold. The list was endless.
Racing is a different beast – a huge industry with a big rural workforce. It’s the lifeblood for many – in the bookmaking and media arenas too. It was right to try to keep the show on the road.
Ireland and France were racing behind closed doors and that seemed the logical next move in Britain, despite no official government ban on mass gatherings.
But then you consider the need for private ambulances and medical staff at every fixture, even with no paying attendance.
You watch the news and see the despair, exhaustion, and desolation in the hospital wards of Italy and Spain, the deserted streets of Madrid, Paris, and Dublin, your parents preparing to self isolate for three months and it becomes clear enough is enough.
People are now being urged - and soon ordered - not to go to pubs, restaurants, cinemas, workplaces, even visit their own families for the immediate future.
Against this backdrop Haydock’s Wednesday card, the feature races at Newbury this weekend, even the Grand National itself, don’t matter.
What does is offering the necessary support to everyone in the industry over the weeks and months ahead to ensure we are in a place to resume once it is safe and responsible to do so.
Whether that is on May 1 is clearly open to doubt. It seems optimistic, to put it mildly, and some huge Flat races, including the first Classics at Newmarket and Investec Derby at Epsom, are under threat.
But we’ll find a way around it.
There was so much to look forward to on our racecourses over the coming months. For now that excitement, anticipation and enjoyment has to go on the back-burner.
The BHA have taken the responsible decision for the whole sport as disappointing as it seems right now. It is the right thing to do.