AXING SCOTTISH GRAND NATIONAL WILL COST £15M

THE Ayrshire economy is set to lose up to £15million with the news that the Coral Scottish Grand National meeting at Ayr Racecourse is destined to be postponed next month. Scotland’s most prestigious jumps race was pencilled in for April 18 but the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has announced that racing, which was being staged behind closed doors on Monday at Kelso, would be postponed altogether until the end of April. The Scottish Grand National is a race that is worth £215,000 in prize money alone but the shelving of the two-day meeting, due to be held on April 17-18 at Ayr, is expected to cost the local economy up to £15m. Nick Rust, chief executive of the BHA, said: ‘This is a national emergency the like of which most of us have never seen before. We’re a sport that is proud of its connection to rural communities and to the local businesses that support our industry. But our first duty is to the health of the public, our customers and to racing industry participants and staff, so we have decided to suspend racing following the government’s latest advice. ‘Racing leaders will keep today’s decision under constant review and endeavour to keep all customers, participants, staff and dependent businesses informed as the situation progresses.’ Ryan Mania, winner of the 2013 Grand

National, said: ‘It would be one thing if we knew we were going to be racing again in April, but since that can’t be confirmed, it could be a disaster. ‘You can’t keep the animals training for that long. Trainers aren’t going to keep going indefinitely. Jockeys aren’t going to have anything to do. People are going to lose their jobs. ‘Hopefully, we can get some assistance from the Professional Jockeys Association but that can’t make up our living. It’s really uncertain times.’