Cruddace: racing must be ready to begin within days of restrictions being eased

Martin Cruddace, chief executive of racecourse group Arena Racing Company (Arc), believes racing could resume in May and that the sport must be poised to restart within days of receiving government consent.

There has been no racing in Britain since March 18 and last week the BHA extended its shutdown without fixing a new date for a return, shortly before lockdown measures were extended by the government for at least another three weeks.

Cruddace envisages the phased return of racing beginning under quarantine, with participants restricted to a sanitised zone at a racecourse capable of putting on fixtures every day.

As previously reported by the Racing Post, Newcastle and Lingfield were singled out by Cruddace as two viable options, as their all-weather surfaces require little maintenance and there are hotels on site. He added that the organisation has a 37-point plan in place for the resumption of racing and it would only need two or three days notice.

"We have to be in a position where we can meet every possible objection," Cruddace said. "My view is we'll start with a heavily quarantined first phase with the movement of people kept to an absolute minimum. We're even discussing sanitising tack.

"Our first priority is the public health emergency but that doesn't mean we shouldn't plan for a resumption."

The British government has extended the lockdown until May 7 and has yet to lay out whether restrictions will begin to be loosened at that point, but Cruddace stressed the sport had to be ready if they were.

"We should be ready within five to seven days of that date to race," he said.

Martin Cruddace: chief executive of Arena Racing CompanyCredit: Edward Whitaker

Betting markets continue to suggest racing is likely to get the go ahead next month, with Coral trimming the odds on that happening to 4-6 (from 5-6) on Sunday. On the Betfair Exchange, the odds of racing resuming on or before June 1 are 8-11.

However, Cruddace said holding fixtures in quarantine would be commercially challenging as the continued closure of betting shops across Britain would have a sizeable effect on the revenue gained through media rights.

Racecourses are among the biggest beneficiaries of the £22 million support package pledged by the Horseracing Betting Levy Board and Racing Foundation as their incomes have been heavily impacted.

"I don't expect betting shops to open until July at the earliest and I very much hope we're racing before then," said Cruddace, who was speaking on Luck on Sunday. "A large part of racecourse media rights income has been decimated.

"The Levy Board has reserves. If we can put on two meetings per day that are generative for the Levy, I'd like to think they'd be happy to contribute towards prize-money because we couldn't. The fixed costs, such as running hotels and broadcasting, are pretty stark."

'We only need 100 people at a track'

While confident racing would be ready to return when conditions allow, BHA chief executive Nick Rust had earlier suggested that efforts to do so are "on a knife-edge" as the sport attempts to keep the government and the public onside.

Cruddace believes racing should be proud if it becomes the first sport to resume during the coronavirus pandemic, and he added: "We're not a contact sport and only need 100 people at a track.

"We'll deliver entertainment, as well as [funds] to the exchequer and the levy. We're always going to face some criticism but if we maintain that our first priority is the public health emergency, which it is, then we should be proud to say we're a sport that has spent two months creating a detailed plan that minimises the risk to the NHS."

Cruddace also confirmed that as part of plans for a resumption, the BHA has analysed the risk of jockey injury and reliance on NHS resources, and suggested both were very minor.

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