TRAINER ON HOLD

Carr takes horses out of work

I believe it is for long-term

A TRAINER has made the difficult decision to take her 55 horses out of work as the UK continues to battle the coronavirus outbreak.

North Yorkshire-based Ruth Carr is putting her successful business on hold with no prospect of horseracing meetings any time soon.

Without a further delay they would restart on May 1, so in the meantime Carr has decided to try to cut costs as well as do her bit to help.

“After hearing the Government advice on Monday, I decided I couldn’t keep training for now,” she said.

“It’s hard but short-term pain gain.

“NHS doctors and nurses are tackling coronavirus on the frontline and there are so many people in hospital.

“What I can do here is a very small part of it and if everyone does their bit, hopefully the situation will improve quicker.”

Carr is known for competing her horses regularly from her yard at Stillington, near York.

In 2019, she had 37 winners from more than 500 runners, collecting more than £400,000 of prize money.

Old favourites like Glorious Goodwood hero Poyle Vinnie and 11-time winner Highland Acclaim are enjoying themselves out in the field with their stablemates, while the racecourse action is suspended.

Carr is applying for the Government assistance through its furlough scheme that will cover 80 per cent of wages for six members of staff. Carr added: “About 75 per cent of our horses are aged four and older, so they know how to race already.

“By keeping them in training with no immediate goals, I thought it was unnecessary miles on the gallops they don’t need.

“Taking them out of training reduces the costs for owners and I am lucky I have the facilities to turn them out in big groups here.

“Physically they will be ticking over and if I can reduce people coming through the gate, it all helps against the virus.

“The weather is lovely now and some of the horses were nearly ready to go.

“When we finally underway, hopefully have a good season.” do we get will