Horse Racing Ireland chief executive Brian Kavanagh has denied that Irish racing is planning for a return as soon as the current Covid-19 restrictions are lifted on 5 May - though he did stress that they will be ready to roll as soon as the Government deems it safe to do so.
Racing had continued behind closed doors before Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced stricter measures to contain the virus on 24 March.
Kavanagh said HRI will continue to follow Government advice while adding that it was too early to move the dates of the Irish 2000 and 1000 Guineas Classics at the Curragh on 23/24 May.
We need your consent to load this SoundCloud contentWe use SoundCloud to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
"If racing resumed early in May there'd be no need to change the dates of the Classics. That decision hasn't been taken yet," he told Joanne Cantwell on RTÉ Radio 1's Sunday Sport.
"We're completely guided by the Government and the chief medical officer in his regard. We're racing ready, we can resume racing at short notice when it's deemed safe and appropriate to do so. We had raced behind closed doors for ten days before the full lockdown.
"Racing is taking place behind closed doors in a number of other countries around the world. Looking at some of our counterparts in France, Germany and the UK, they have plans to try and resume racing in early May.
"Obviously the first issue is the national emergency and the state of the situation nationally."
Kavanagh said there is a strong belief that racing can take place behind closed doors in a safe environment that observes all social distancing protocols.
He said: "We've worked with the Government all the way through. They've been supportive. We'll take our guidance from them.
"We've made the government aware that we are ready to race.
"We believe there is a safe to do so in a very sterilised environment. Behind closed doors means that over a six-hour period you have less than 200 people on a site.
"Each race meeting requires two doctors and two ambulances. The ambulances are provided by the Order of Malta.
"I think like every other industry racing is under a lot of pressure. Racing is a big employer. From the moment of the lockdown, like a lot of other businesses, the earning potential within the industry just stopped.
"That is a concern in the industry but like I said that's secondary to the concern in relation to the national situation."
