Here is why a June 29 return for Irish racing has got absolutely everyone's goat

Last Friday Leo Varadkar's government published the roadmap to ease Covid-19 restrictions and reopen Ireland's economy and society. It had five phases, starting on May 18 and finishing on August 10, and contained the bombshell that Irish racing was not going to return until phase three on June 29.

The problem, you see, is that the Irish public have been on their own roadmap to recovery since March 12. There have been about five phases to that process as well and right now most people are in phase four and queuing up to enter phase five, if not there already.

Agitation has replaced angst; frustration has usurped fear; interrogation has ousted acceptance.