Horses, trainers and jockeys ready for the off

Optimism has been the name of the game in recent weeks regarding the resumption of racing and that paid off on Thursday with the National Horseracing Authority announcing the sport can resume — behind closed doors — from June 1.

Two countries — SA and England — have been pleading their cases with their respective governments and both have been rewarded by getting the green light to restart.

In SA, Gold Circle, which runs racing in KZN, are gearing up for a meeting on the polytrack at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Monday.

They called for entries from trainers for Monday so they did not lose valuable time and the long-awaited time slot.

The rules covering the restart are that fields other than Pattern races will be no more than 12 runners, jockeys will be restricted to their province of choice and will not be allowed to move between provinces and the final race must be no later than 4.45pm.

No racing will be allowed in Kimberley for the month of June which is a blow for a number of owners and trainers.

In England, racing is set to return on Monday with an eightrace card on the all-weather track at Newcastle.

The case for resumption in England may have gained some momentum as a result of the Irish government's decision to bring racing back three weeks earlier than originally planned. It was scheduled to resume on June 29 but will now restart on June 8.

Interestingly, entries for the two meetings are almost identical — 376 for Greyville and 369 for Newcastle.

The entry at Newcastle is twice as large as would be expected at the northern track at this time of year. It indicates how keen trainers are to get their horses running with the sport in shutdown since March 19.

Many of the UK's top trainers have made entries from their stables including John Gosden, Sir Michael Stiute, Roger Varian, Hugo Palmer and Charlie Hills.

Jockeys already booked for rides include champion Sylvester De souza, Andrea Atzeni and Jim Crowley.

The leading trainer at Newcastle for the past five seasons has been Richard Fahey and the stable has 33 entries for the Newcastle meeting.

He told reporters: "The prep is done at home and the racetrack is where we finish the job."

Three horses who excelled at Newcastle last term — Lion Hearted, Tathmeen and Ice Pyramid — feature among the large entry and look certain to be well supported if the meeting takes place.

Lion Hearted is the bestknown of this trio as this member of Mick Appleby's stable won four races in succession in 2019 — three of them at Newcastle.

Another Newcastle specialist is trainer Anthony Brittain's charge Tathmeen. Five of the horse's seven victories have come at Newcastle.