Racing risk after Grand National is abandoned
THE Aintree Grand National was last night dramatically called off after new UK Government restrictions to fight the spread of coronavirus made it impossible to stage the showpiece on April 4. The Jockey Club and Aintree officials were working towards running the race behind closed doors, either as a stand-alone event or as part of a day of races cherry-picked from the scheduled three-day meeting. But all that changed after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for a stop to ‘non-essential contact’ and ‘unnecessary travel’. Now the rest of British horse racing looks set to follow suit, despite plans to hold meetings behind closed doors. The Grand National was doomed as soon as it was announced that emergency services are to be withdrawn from supporting mass gatherings. It is the first time since 1993 — when there were two chaotic false starts — that the National will not take place. This season’s race was hugely anticipated with Gordon Ellliott-trained Tiger Roll attempting to become the first horse since Red Rum in the 1970s to win the £1million race three times and the first horse to win the race in three consecutive years. The announcement of the weights for the Irish Grand National at the stables of champion trainer Willie Mullins, scheduled for tomorrow, has been scrapped. Instead, the weights, and ante-post odds, will be released by email through Horse Racing Ireland tomorrow. ‘Following Government restrictions to contain the spread of Covid-19, we have made the decision to cancel the BoyleSports Irish Grand National weights launch. ‘We feel this is the best thing to do at this time. We will still issue weights this Wednesday,’ said Kate O’Sullivan of Fairyhouse. The Irish National is fixed for Fairyhouse on Easter Monday, April 13 at and drew a crowd of 12,500 last year where Mullins trained his first National winner, Burrows Saint. Whether it goes ahead on schedule next month is uncertain.
THE BHA’s head office in High Holborn, London, which is also the Jockey Club’s HQ in London, was closed due to a small number of office-based BHA employees self-isolating having experienced mild symptoms that could ‘potentially be consistent with coronavirus’.
THOROUGHBRED and trotting racing in France, which has been operating behind closed doors, was shut down completely until April 15.