Hill has hit new heights in racing’s happy return
TAKE a bow, Dr Jerry Hill.
As the British Horseracing Authority’s chief medical advisor, Dr Hill has been at the centre of formulating the protocol for racing’s return from the coronavirus pandemic.
Facemasks, temperature controls and social distancing were the headline measures to ensure the sport resumed in a safe environment, but there’s plenty more to it than that — as anyone who read the no-stoneunturned document released last month can attest.
Given the negative — and (largely) after-timing — reaction to the decision to hold the Cheltenham Festival, and the fact that a lot of people don’t like horseracing in the first place, many people were waiting for us to fail.
Racing’s opponents, many of whom are blinded by inverse
snobbery than actually enlightened through any knowledge of this great sport, must have been salivating at the thought of an early derailment.
But they didn’t get their wish.
There has been the odd teething problem since the comeback at Newcastle on Monday — the limit on two stalls handlers per horse has meant more non-starters than usual — but, in general terms, everything has gone swimmingly.
Realising the gravity of the situation, everyone involved with the horses — trainers, stable staff and jockeys — has exercised the patience required to make the restart work, but the bulk of the credit must go to Dr Hill.
Watching the smooth resumption almost made me wonder whether racing’s resumption might indeed have come sooner, but I think we’ll leave that one for another day.
■ OISIN MURPHY put a 95-second video on Twitter after racing at Newmarket on Thursday, talking through the two-year-olds he had ridden that afternoon.
This wasn’t some chalk jockey trying to boost his profile by engaging with racing fans, but the champion jockey.
More of the same, please.