The big dilemmas facing those tasked with planning the 2020 Flat season

The virtual Grand National was great but what we all want is a return of the real stuff – real horses, ridden by real jockeys, competing on real racecourses. Yet when can it really happen?

In Britain senior stakeholders, joined together in the BHA-led Resumption of Racing Group, are working towards a May 1 restart. That preferred date may prove unrealistic, but at some point over the coming months racing's hiatus will end. As we fix our minds towards that, and then beyond, there are any number of important matters to think about. Here are just a few.

Racing's social licence

It is absolutely correct that optics alone should not determine a decision on which so many livelihoods depend. It is also true that heeding public perception may never have been more important than it is now.