Rich Ricci surprised but delighted the Cheltenham Festival went ahead

Leading owner Rich Ricci, on the mark with two winners at the Cheltenham Festival, said he was surprised the meeting went ahead unaffected in the face of the coronavirus outbreak and believes the prospect of the sport being played out behind closed doors is high.

Ricci, whose string run in his wife Susannah's distinctive green and pink silks, had a smile on his face after Min struck in the Ryanair Chase on Thursday, while he also celebrated the success of Monkfish in Friday's Albert Bartlett.

However, coronavirus has virtually brought sport to a standstill in Britain and across many parts of Europe and some have criticised racing at Cheltenham going ahead.

Min: Ryanair Chase winner for Rich and Susannah RicciCredit: Alan Crowhurst

Asked for his view on that, Ricci, speaking to Racing TV, said: "Surprising is the word that comes to mind. I thought all week they might do something, but I suppose you follow the advice you're given and we heard what the government said all week.

"Cheltenham did an outstanding job with the precautions they took and the extra sanitisers around, the encouragement for people to wash their hands, bringing in extra hot water on the last day to support the crowds.

"I think Cheltenham did a fantastic job. I know there's a bit of controversy about some of the Irish [fans] going back to Ireland and not self-quarantining.

"It'll be interesting to see how that plays out, given they took a different approach to what we did in Britain, but I was surprised and think prospects of behind-closed-doors racing must unfortunately be pretty high.

"But we've got to act in the public and national interest. I was surprised, delightedly surprised, but you follow the advice you're given."

Racing in Ireland has taken place with no crowds since Friday, while Kelso's meeting in Scotland on Monday will be closed to the public, but no restrictions have been put in place on fixtures in England.

That could change with speculation the government will soon take action against events that draw large crowds.

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