First steps to normality as relieved owners prepare to return to courses

After more than a year in lockdown British racing will take the first tentative steps on Monday on what the sport hopes will be a one-way journey towards full crowds on racecourses again as owners are permitted to return to tracks in England and Scotland.

Two owners per horse will be allowed at Fontwell, Stratford, Wincanton and Wolverhampton, with that number set to rise to six on April 12 under planned easing of national lockdown restrictions.

In a further move towards pre-pandemic conditions, amateur riders will also be back in action for the first time since January when they contest a handicap hurdle at Wincanton.