WITH the return of racing little over a week away, Horse Racing Ireland and the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board are working hard to ensure racecourses have adapted their facilities to meet the protocols while imploring trainers, jockeys and stable staff to familiarise themselves with the new rules and avoid being turned away.

Pat Brennan, Sharleen O’Reilly and Darren Lawlor from HRI have been appointed Covid-19 compliance officers and they will have the unpleasant task of denying entry to anyone who fails to produce the required barcodes or meet any of the other requirements, as set out in the protocols document.

Niall Cronin, communications manager for the IHRB, said: “The compliance officers are not doing a diagnosis – they are just there to say ‘you cannot enter the racecourse today’ and from there the person is referred to Dr Jennifer Pugh, who will go through with them what needs to happen before they go racing again.”

This week the racing authorities made a series of instructional videos at Naas Racecourse which were released yesterday afternoon. There will also be an infographic produced next week which will show what needs to be done, and by whom, in advance of each racemeeting.

Once racing starts, more videos will be recorded and broadcast during racedays to show the new systems working in real-time.

Cronin reported more very positive reaction this week from racecourses, despite the added workload and costs involved. “The managers have all been brilliant. There is not an awful lot of expense or hours of work involved, apart from moving furniture, erecting perspex screens and providing hand sanitiser. We are very conscious of minimising the expense for racecourses.”

Weighrooms will operate a one-way system, and this has necessitated creativity at some venues. Cronin explained: “Leopardstown’s weighroom does not have a back door but it has two double-doors at the front. By taking down one of the glass partitions between those doors and the weighing area, people can now enter the weighroom through one double-door, carry out their duties, and exit through the other double-door and leave the area via the wheelchair ramp.”

British restart

Meanwhile, racing in Britain resumes on Monday with a 10-race card at Newcastle. The quality of racing increases gradually at Kempton on Tuesday and Wednesday, before a high-class four-day meeting at Newmarket starts on Thursday, which will include the Guineas races.

Although the British government has not yet formally given racing the green light, the BHA issued a short statement yesterday indicating full confidence that it would be rubber-stamped over the weekend.

The statement reads: “We’re counting down the hours to the return of racing and looking forward to official confirmation from the UK Government after it has published its guidelines for the resumption of sport in the next day or so. The long break is nearly over.”

French racing stages its first two classics on Monday. The Poule d’Essai des Poulains and Pouliches, often referred to as the French Guineas, will be staged this year at Deauville as racing in Paris is not yet permitted.

Web: hri.ie/covid-19/

Deauville & Newcastle Racecards >>32-33