Arena tracks may play key role in return
ARENA Racing Company tracks could be at the forefront of a return to racing in Britain when the time comes for the sport to resume following its suspension due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Any resumption will be behind closed doors on the Flat, but only when Government advice permits, a point British Horseracing Authority chief executive Nick Rust has again reiterated.
Should there be a heavily quarantined reintroduction, two of Arena’s all-weather tracks are likely to have the facilities required to host such a scenario.
Martin Cruddace, chief executive of ARC, said: “My own personal view is we’ll have a position whereby we will be in a heavily quarantined first phase and we would need to make sure the movement of people is kept to the absolute minimum.
“The first phase could and maybe should involve a quarantined, sanitised zone at a racecourse that is able to put on regular fixtures maybe each day, and where the participants do not have to leave that sanitised zone.
“To a large extent we are relying on Dr Jerry Hill and his great team at the BHA and being guided by their advice, but I think we have to be in a position whereby we can meet every possible objection.
“I can only speak for our tracks, and a lot depends on the conditions the Resumption of Racing Group and the BHA put on what is required - I don’t think the conditions will be anything other than very restrictive, and rightly so,” he added.
“If that is the case what you are looking for is probably a hotel on the racecourse, a surface that can take regular racing and also a hotel that can provide 100 to 110 rooms.
“Obviously if you look at it regionally, we have Lingfield where we have a hotel and we have Newcastle which has a hotel on-site as well.
“So we have two very viable options.
“We have also been doing our own work, we have a 37-point plan to put in place and we only need two or three days’ notice and we will be up and running.”