A senior racing official has said he is “incredibly confident” that the sport will be allowed to resume a week on Monday, even though a final decision rests with the government and will apparently be made at a very late stage.
Brant Dunshea, chief regulatory officer of the British Horseracing Authority, used the phrase three times during an appearance on RacingTV’s Luck On Sunday show, including when asked if he would take the current odds of 4-11 about racing taking place on 1 June.
“I’m incredibly confident that we will be racing on 1 June,” he replied. “We can’t control what decisions government make but we’re incredibly confident and we’re working hard and planning towards 1 June being our resumption date and we’re all very excited about that.”
His confidence was not shaken when it was pointed out that the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, had referred recently to a mid-June resumption as being a fair target for elite sports resuming behind closed doors. Dunshea insists that racing is in a better position to make an early return than other sports which require human contact or team training.
“Government have recognised that we are different to the other sports that are being referred to,” he said. “We largely are a rural-based sport, both our training and our racing environments are outdoor, which pose lower levels of risk and position us as a very different type of sport to football, rugby, where we have lots of close contact.
“I’m very, very comfortable that our sport is being seen as different to contact sports by government. It’s been recognised by government at a number of levels that we are different and we appreciate that because we’ve been advocating all the way through that we have our own unique circumstances.”
Dunshea acknowledged that the timing will be tight, with the government’s guidance on sports returning behind closed doors expected to be published at the end of this week. By that time, final entries may already have been made for the first scheduled race-meeting at Newcastle.
“Our understanding is that the government will give two or three days notice for the community, regarding moving to that next phase,” Dunshea said during a later appearance on Sky Sports Racing, having been asked when racing would get a final answer about resumption. “We’re continuously engaging with government on a daily basis at a number of levels and at this stage we’ve had no indication to suggest that our planning is not consistent with what we expect to happen.”
The safety protocols to be observed upon resumption were published on Saturday evening. As revealed last week in the Guardian, racecourse attendees will not be subjected to a regime of Covid-19 tests but will have their temperatures taken on arrival and will be refused entry if it exceeds 37.8C.
Asked why tests would not be used, Dunshea said: “We are adopting a risk-based approach. Presently, government aren’t instructing that people who do not have symptoms be tested.
“Having a layered approach, which includes a surveillance programme in the background, complemented by a training and education module, than having a health-based screening process, complemented by the other checks that will happen on a raceday when an individual arrives, we believe that risk-based approach is most appropriate for our sport.”
However, a BHA spokesman added that some selective testing might take place in racing communities like Newmarket, Lambourn or Malton “if surveillance data showed an increase in cases in a particular area and Public Health England advised that this would be of value”.