WE’RE VERY CLOSE

BHA confident racing will get green light to return on June 1

A TOP racing boss says he is “incredibly confident” that the sport will resume a week today.

Brant Dunshea, Chief Regulatory Officer at the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), allayed fears in the industry that racing may not go ahead as planned.

He said: “I’m incredibly confident that we will be racing on June 1.”

And the sport received another boost last night when Boris Johnson said the country was now in a position to move to phase two of the lockdown easing of restrictions.

The industry has been counting down the days to the planned resumption next Monday although last week Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden suggested the sport may have to wait until mid-june.

But Dunshea told the Luck On Sunday show on Racing TV: “The Government has recognised racing is different to other sports. The sport takes place in an outdoor environment which poses a lower level of risk to close-contact sports.”

Dunshea is confident the BHA has everything in place but it depends on the green light from the Government.

“We are not in a position to be able to control the Government’s decision making,” said Dunshea.

“We have been working continuously to ensure that we are in the best position we can to resume on June 1 and that is what our intention is. The resumption is linked to the Government decision to move to the next phase of lockdown conditions and allow sport to take place behind closed doors.”

The BHA will press on with its plan to open entries on Tuesday for the June 1 Newcastle fixture.

But with the north east hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis, it is also in a position to follow the French approach and switch fixtures at Newcastle and other coronavirus hotspots.