RUNNING ON EMPTY
so about the real-life impact that not being able to feed a family or heat a home might also bring through significant losses in earnings.
It meant racing went on here, even if near everyone involved agreed that is was a surreal day. Nick Alexander, the Scottish trainer and father of jump jockey Lucy, observed the subtle differences – such as having to use binoculars in the absence of a big-screen to watch. Sandy Thomson, winner of of the second race with Duc Du Grissay, was presented with a couple of kilos of carrots, the traditional prize for all winners at Kelso as gifted by a local greengrocer.
Alan Baxter, another winning trainer who had travelled all the way from Cheshire to watch his Bryden Boy edge out Island Heights to take the The Belhaven Brewery Handicap Hurdle, joked that he was all set for a period of self-isolation having walked off with a crate of ale and, of course, a sack of vegetables.
Pleased as he was with his charge, Thomson was concerned about what lies around the corner, especially if the flat racing season – which begins on March 28 – is put into cold storage.
“There will be huge job losses,” he said. “It will be catastrophic for the industry.
If something happens [cancellation] you’re going to have all these flat horses and they’re not going to be able to run. The owners are not going to want to pay for them, the trainers are not going to be able to pay their staff and the owners are going to be hugely out of pocket because they’re not going to be able to get any value on to their horse. I feel very sorry for the people involved in flat racing.”
Ryan Mania, Thomson’s stepson-in-law who was on board Duc Du Grissay, said for all that there was concern about the future it was “business as usual”. He has heard the roar of a packed Aintree hailing him on Grand National day but still expected what he found yesterday.
“To be honest, a Monday at Kelso wouldn’t attract a massive crowd,” said Mania. “It doesn’t feel a lot different. But if we manage to have any bigger meetings it will be different.
All we want to do is ride horses and earn some money. So long as racing is on that’s the main thing. If we lost meetings they would not be restaged. It’s a real concern.”
Mania and Thomson’s win aside, the record will also show that Golan Cloud took the last in convincing style to complete a hat-trick for jockey Sean Quinlan.