'Huge relief' at Hexham as track stages first meeting of 2020 on Wednesday

Relief is the overriding emotion at Hexham as racing finally resumes on Wednesday following a 266-day break and the loss of two-thirds of the track's fixture list.

The last time the Northumberland course staged a meeting there was still a fortnight to go before Christmas and the enormity of the coronavirus pandemic had yet to be realised.

Having lost its first fixture of 2020 to high winds and the next eight due to the Covid-19 shutdown, Hexham returns with a seven-race evening card that attracted 82 declarations.

Hexham card and betting

Racecourse manager Robert Whitelock said: "It's a huge relief for everybody. In June and July, with no racing and nothing happening, you're sitting here thinking 'good God, will everybody have forgotten about us?' but fortunately they haven't.

"It's been a difficult time and it's not just the racing we've lost, we also lost all the non-raceday events we had planned. Nearly every day we'd have raced was a blistering hot day and we'd have had a good crowd, and the hospitality was full booked on a number of days in May and June. It's been a crying shame for everybody.

"But that's in the past, we've got to look to the future. It's been a huge effort over the last six weeks since everybody came back from furlough to get us to where we are now.

Robert Whitelock: 'It has been a difficult time'Credit: David Carr

Whitelock added: "I was delighted with the entries and the declarations, the support we've had is fantastic. And I'm thrilled with the owners registering to come from Aberdeen, Cheshire, Lichfield and Lincolnshire – they're coming from all parts of the country."

Jamie Snowden is pleased to send Pisgah Pike (4.15) and Ask Robin (7.00) on the six-hour journey up from Lambourn to a course where he has had four winners from just 12 runners.

"It's a lovely track, it suits our type of horses as it's a good staying course," he said. "Pisgah Pike was third in a nice bumper at Ludlow first time out for us last season. He was second on his first start over hurdles at Market Rasen in a race that was probably half decent. A reproduction of that effort should see him go close.

"Ask Robin has been a bit of a work in progress, he's had his issues, but I hope he can win off his current kind of mark."

Closer to Northumberland, Middleham-based Micky Hammond is sorry no extra summer meetings were given to a track where he has had 83 winners since he started training. He has five runners and thinks Ballycrystal (5.25) and Maison D'Or (7.30) "should go well".

"Hexham do a good job of watering so you get decent ground and it lends itself nicely to spring, summer and autumn racing," he said.

"Why on earth they weren’t allocated fixtures in July and August is beyond me. They could've raced every fortnight through the summer, it was a missed opportunity."

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