Nick Rust examining ways for racing to return once coronavirus crisis is over

BHA chief executive Nick Rust does not accept that an extension of the current shutdown until the end of April is inevitable, even though the Covid-19 outbreak is not expected to reach a peak for 12 weeks.

He stressed racing's leaders are striving to ensure the sport will be in a position to resume in Britain as soon as it is given the all-clear.

Asked to rule out a resumption in May, Rust said on Sunday: "It's too early to do that."

Why we took the decision to shut down British racing

He also underlined the BHA's commitment to try to keep the industry intact and ready for a return and said: "We realise the implication of a long break. Whilst we can provide financial support and so on there are obviously implications on a generation of two-year-olds and three-year-olds. What happens to the Pattern? What does this mean for our sister industries, breeding and the sales side?

"Government will be looking for a return to economic activity as quickly and safely as possible. We are looking at a number of possibilities about whether we could race safely. Given the restrictions that are in place we're going to have to think very creatively.

"Any solution will have to involve something very creative, probably in a very localised area. We're examining the feasibility of that, that doesn't drain public services and where individuals are happy to take part on that basis."

One suggestion is a regionalised form of racing, possibly based on a particular training centre or course, and Rust, speaking on Luck On Sunday, said: "I don't want to set any hares running but I want to assure people that we're not sitting here waiting for 12 or 14 weeks to go by and thinking 'we'd better start thinking about how we might return'.

"When we suspended racing we said that we would keep the decision under review and we would look at how and when we could bring some form of racing back as soon as we could and we're keeping that in mind."

Rust said he had no regrets about the decision to stage the Cheltenham Festival, which attracted nearly 250,000 racegoers just days before the worsening situation caused the sport to go behind closed door and then stop completely.

"At the time the advice from medical professionals and from government was that we could continue but that changed very quickly over last weekend and with the prime minister's statement on Monday afternoon," he said.

"As we've consistently said all the way through we were asked by government, by DCMS, 'please follow government advice, try and stick with it all the way through'. The advice was to continue.

"There was no stopping on mass gatherings, we were still very much in the first stage, the contain phase, and there was no reason not to continue with Cheltenham."

The BHA has published a message of support from the co-chairs of the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Racing and Bloodstock Industries, signed by MPs Conor McGinn and Laurence Robertson.

Their letter said: "We supported the difficult but correct decision to suspend racing. It was the only reasonable course of action to take for the public good, in the national interest and to preserve the longer term reputation and positive image of our sport.

"We are now calling on the government to recognise racing’s responsible actions by playing its role in securing the future and sustainability of our great sport, which makes such a significant financial, cultural and social contribution to our country.

"We will now, as always, be fully behind racing in the extremely challenging and uncertain times ahead."

McGinn, speaking on Luck On Sunday, added: "I feel bereft without racing. But it's obscene to think we can absent ourselves from national duty. It was the correct decision [to stop racing in Britain]."

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