The English page - Racing suspended worldwide

With the coronavirus continuing to spread all over the world, racing – in common with almost all other sports - has been suspended in most countries or only takes place behind closed doors or under very strict conditions. Football is by far the most popular sport in most countries, both in terms of the number of spectators and of media coverage, but racing comes second (at a distance) in many areas.

The current situation is that the only racing actually taking place in Europe at the moment is trotting in Sweden, and that behind closed doors. Thoroughbred racing is due to resume there on April 5^th, but that looks unlikely. Much depends on government advice and official instructions. In Ireland for example, racing carried on behind closed doors for ten days after Cheltenham, but was stopped after the Clonmel fixture on Tuesday of this week after the government ordered all sporting events to be cancelled. We did at least have flat racing on turf there on Monday, including a group race and also the first European 2yo race of the season; although racing behind closed doors is clearly not ideal and probably makes a loss for the racecourse, it is better than nothing and the ten days for which it lasted in Ireland were regarded as positive. 

The current situation is that in the main European countries racing will theoretically resume on April 15^th (France), April 19^th (Ireland) and May 1^st (U.K.), while German racing will resume on April 19^th with the first group race of the year at Düsseldorf. While May  1^st could be just possible, this writer cannot believe that racing will be able to resume in France, Ireland or in this country in mid-April. That seems hopelessly optimistic, early to mid-May is more realistic. When racing does resume in Germany, it is likely that the first few meetings will be held behind closed doors and, because of the huge financial losses caused by the interruption, with greatly reduced prize-money.

Looking at the German fixture list,  that means that the Dr. Busch-Memorial at Krefeld on April 26^th and the Bavarian Classic in Munich on May 1^st are in danger of being cancelled, both important races for 3yo´s in their own right and also as classic trials. It must be hoped that the main classics can take place as scheduled- the Mehl-Mülhens-Rennen (2,000 Guineas) at Cologne on May 17^th, the German 1,000 Guineas at Düsseldorf on June 7^th, followed by the German Derby at Hamburg on July 5^th and the Preis der Diana (Oaks) at Düsseldorf on August 2^nd. Certainly one must hope that the situation will have returned to normality by those two last dates, but it is of course important that owners and trainers of classic hopefuls can make plans now to prepare their charges for those races, which also means that the various trials will have to take place. This also applies to Baden-Baden´s important Spring Meeting (May 21-24), with several black type races and classic trials.

Horse racing is a truly international sport, but the coronavirus has unfortunately shown itself to be equally international in its scope. South African racing is cancelled as of today (Friday), while racing in Hong Kong and Japan is going on behind closed doors; the only way to place bets is now online, which will also result in a massive loss for the whole industry. In the USA, many states have banned live events or only allow them to take place behind closed doors; the Kentucky Derby has been postponed until September, there are normally 150,000 racegoers present, “it would be unthinkable to run the race without spectators.”

The situation in Australia, which has one of the world´s largest breeding and racing industries, is confusing, as the individual states have their own regulations, the largest and most populous being New South Wales and Victoria, with the huge conurbations of Sydney and Melbourne respectively, each with several racecourses. There was a shock earlier this week when a “participant” had to be quarantined as he had been on a plane with a person later tested positive. This turned out to be the well-known jockey Mark Zahra, but luckily he has now been tested negative and racing is to resume in Victoria at least. But the authorities all over the world are leaving nothing to chance, and rightly so. Thus the Dubai World Cup day scheduled for this Saturday has had to be canvcelled (on government orders), while Euro 2020 is now Euro 2021 and the Olympic Games, after much heavily criticized hesitation, has also been postponed for a year. The CHIO in Aachen, one of Europe´s most prestigious equestrian events, has also been postponed, probably until the autumn.

The breeding season is now in full swing and apparently so far unaffected by the coronavirus. But the sales companies are worried as the upcoming breeze-up sales are all in danger of being cancelled. The well-established Australian company Inglis is holding on-line auctions, but they certainly cannot be conducted on a permanent basis.

As far as actual racing is concerned, there is obviously very little to report. From the German point of view, the victory of Emoji (Soldier Hollow) in a listed race at Saint-Cloud the Sunday before last – almost the last day when there was flat racing in France before the shutdown – is noteworthy. Bred by Bernd Dietl and Thomas Jordan, she made a spectacular debut at last year´s Baden-Baden October Meeting, making all the running to win a 2yo maiden by 14 lengths in a canter. She was at that time trained by Henk Grewe but was sold after the race to Team Valor International and is now trained by Francis-Henri Graffard. She won the Saint-Cloud race in good style and it is expected that she could well improve to Group One level. She is by Germany´s leading stallion Soldier Hollow (In The Wings) and from a family that, originally based at the now long-defunct Waldfried, has produced numerous good winners for leading German studs Wittekindshof and Fährhof; his third dam is an own sister to Fährhof´s multiple group race winner and Group One-placed El Salto (Surumu).

The group race at Naas last Monday was won by the Ger Lyons-trained Lemista (Raven´s Pass), but the Aga Khan´s homebred Hamariyna (Sea The Moon) was a good runner-up and the four-year-old filly looks capable of scoring again at this level. While in Japan, two horses with German backgrounds took the minor places in the Group Two Spring Stakes at Nakayama: Weltreisende (Dream Journey) and Succession (King Kamehemeda). The former is out of the Acatenango mare Mandela, a half-sister to Manduro, arguably Monsun´s best son, and herself third in the 2003 Preis der Diana, while the latter is out of Brümmerhof´s Addicted, winner of Cologne´s Schwarzgold-Rennen. We hope very much that there will be more to report  next week.

David Conolly-Smith