GERMANY seems to have coped better with the coronavirus crisis than most other countries, although at the time of writing, 7,738 people have died in this country after being infected with Covid-19.

That is roughly a quarter of the number of dead in the UK, Spain, France or Italy, all of which have a slightly smaller population (Johns Hopkins University figures).

In the meantime, the strict lockdown conditions imposed in March are being gradually eased in many European countries. Although restaurants and bars are still closed, most shops are now open in Germany, including my local betting shop, which reopened on Monday.

Strict hygiene and social distancing regulations still apply, but there is now a semblance of normality returning to public life.

There has been horse racing in Sweden and Denmark since late April, but with all due respect, these are not among the bigger racing nations. All eyes were therefore on Hanover last Thursday, when racing resumed after a two months break; this was the first significant race meeting in Europe since Cheltenham, and was quickly followed by Cologne on Friday, Mülheim on Saturday and Hoppegarten last Sunday.

Strange

Of course the situation would have seemed very strange to some modern day Rip van Winkles, but Hong Kong, Japan and Australia have all staged top class racing behind closed doors, so we know it can be done, and Germany has successfully followed suit.

No spectators, only those absolutely essential to the racing allowed on to the course, and they had to be registered and approved in advance; face masks worn by everybody, including jockeys, and pre- and post-race interviews conducted using a microphone on an extension stick.

Tiny niggles

There were only some tiny niggles, but basically it all worked very well and compliments are due to the racecourses concerned for their organisation and to everybody involved for following the rules.