HORSE RACING
IAIN FERGUSON
Crowds will return to Ayr Racecourse on Wednesday, June 2 almost a year and three months on from the last time the paying public enjoyed a day at the Craigie track.
It was back on Saturday, March 7, 2020 at around 7.45pm the last punter made his way out the exit onto Whitletts Road on his way home.
Little did anyone think then that it wouldn’t be until just before noon some 453 days later the next customer would walk through the gates of Scotland’s premier racecourse.
After lockdown last March it took until June 22 for racing to return to Ayr this time behind closed doors with only jockeys, trainers, racing grooms, racecourse staff, British Horseracing Authority officials and a small number of media in attendance.
Racehorse owners returned briefly last autumn only to lose that privilege again later in the year before returning permanently – or as permanent as anything can be in this Covid age – earlier this year.
A hardy band of around 60 members of our Owners Club returned last Wednesday and next week our season ticket holders and 250 punters will be back with every ticket not surprisingly already sold out.
We have staged 28 meetings and more than 200 races behind closed doors so the team at Ayr Racecourse as at courses up and down the country will breathe a collective sigh of relief on Wednesday when the doors open again, albeit ever so slightly.
These may be baby steps but at least it’s a positive move and one that brings a modicum of hope that gradually we are on the road back and that one day in the not too distant future the cries of “go on ya beauty”, “get in there” and “come on my son” are heard from crowded stands.
I have announced winners of the Ayr Gold Cup and the Coral Scottish Grand
National to an empty racecourse in the past year, I have struggled to speak into a mic while wearing a face mask and given jockeys fist bumps to congratulate them on a particularly good ride but to quote Bob Dylan, who celebrated his 80th birthday this week, the times are a’changin’.
Yes times are changing and hopefully returning to what we once accepted as normal.
The journey has been painfully slow with many bumps on the road but there is light at the end of the tunnel and it’s becoming brighter.
The seven race card next Wednesday starts at the rather unusual time of 1.13pm with a novice stakes for two-year-olds and you can rest assured there will be a Mark Johnston juvenile primed to run a big race in this.
The small but select crowd even have a 1m 5f race to savour which has the added bonus of the start being directly in front of the stands and I have a hunch that Phil Kirby will run his talented stayer Red Force One in this.
The feature contest is a mile handicap at 3.23pm and I’d expect Richard Fahey to step his talented four-year-old Hong Kong Harry up in trip from seven furlongs and try to make it five wins from six starts on a course that horse, trainer and his jockey Paul Hanagan all love.
The afternoon’s action concludes with a seven furlong handicap at 4.25pm.
I can assure all those lucky enough to be among the special 250 that some things never change.
Jim Goldie, who incidentally is challenging Keith Dalgleish as Scottish Racing’s Slimmer Of The Year, will still have plenty of runners, Mike Smith will continue to improve horses that previously would finish nearer last than first and my old mate Gordon Brown will host eloquently on Racing TV.
It will be a pleasure for me to see a crowd of sorts around the Parade Ring as I preview the races and then introduce the winners.
If you haven’t been able to secure a ticket we race another twice in June and then five times in July so hopefully there will be an opportunity to attend in the near future.