French authority still targeting April 16 date for resumption of racing

France was the first major racing nation to shut down completely in the face of the coronavirus outbreak and officials are maintaining hopes they could also be the first to emerge from the other side of the crisis.

Having raced in places - and latterly across the whole country - behind closed doors, France Galop and their trotting counterparts took the decision on Monday they would suspend all competition until at least April 15.

On Wednesday evening France Galop president Edouard de Rothschild struck an optimistic note in expressing his hopes for a swift resumption at the end of that initial period, sentiments echoed on Thursday by director general Olivier Delloye.

"We fixed the stoppage initially until April 15 because it coincides with the date announced by the French government last Saturday evening for the closure of bars and restaurants," said Delloye. "We certainly didn't choose it at random or in a void.

"That's the basis we're going forward with and I think it's important to give a target for the whole racing industry."

"That doesn't mean automatically that we will be racing on April 16 because today we just don't know. But it is our dearest wish that we can stay confident in a return to normal activity around that time and therefore limit the disruption to the calendar for the rest of the year.

"Running from mid-April would be one thing, though whether it will be with or without the public is another question. But the essential thing is that we hope we can restart then."

Chantilly was the first major course in France to lock the public out back in the first week of March, since when all racing has totally shutdown

The racing shutdown came just hours before Emmanuel Macron announced a two week period of "confinement," which forces people to carry an official self-declaration form in order to leave their homes for short periods and in a tightly-prescribed set of circumstances.

Delloye and his team are working hard to mitigate the financial impact on the wider industry but admitted the losses in revenue will be considerable, even if racing can resume in mid-April.

"The losses even with this stoppage are colossal, we are talking about tens of millions of Euros per month," said Delloye, who added that any resumption will be contingent on the progress of the wider fight against the virus.

"I don't read much into the fact Ireland is continuing for the moment. They are taking every possible precaution, as we were last week when running behind closed doors, when the prospect of shutting down altogether was already a real possibility.

"We fought it off for a while and would like to have gone on for as long as possible but it was the situation on the ground in France which dictated what came to pass and that will be what dictated what happens in the future."

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