THE suspension of all horse racing fixtures until April 19th at the earliest was announced this week.The board of Horse Racing Ireland later expressed its full and ongoing support for and commitment to the efforts of the Government to fight the transmission of Covid-19 and pledged the input of racing’s personnel and infrastructure to assist as necessary.

Horse Racing Ireland chairman Nicky Hartery said: “What is most important is that as a country we do all we can individu-ally and collectively to fight the transmis-sion of Covid-19 and focus on our health, ensuring that resources such as medical facilities and personnel are allocated where the need is most.

Facilities

“We have consistently said that racing’s facil-ities are at the disposal of the Government. Yesterday (Tuesday), the HSE began prepara-tions to use Cork Racecourse in Mallow as a much-needed testing centre for the virus and the centre will be operational from tomor-row (Thursday).

Horse Racing Ireland will be wor king with the HSE and the Government to identify other elements of racing’s personnel and infrastructure that could be used in the co-ordinated reaction to the crisis.

”The board reviewed the 10 fixtures which have been held behind closed doors since the original restrictions on public gather-ings were introduced, and this experience has confirmed that a safe environment which fully respects required social distanc-ing and hygiene measures is achievable for race fixtures.

HRI chief executive Brian Kavanagh said: “We have run 10 race fixtures be-hind closed doors over the last two weeks through the diligence of key stakeholders in the industry, key personnel in the race-courses, HRI and the IHRB staff, the Order of Malta and medical practitioners, and the media.

“What this has proven is that race fix-tures can be safely staged while at the same time offering some level of business conti-nuity for a crucial rural industry.

“The vital experience gained from staging these meetings behind closed doors may as-sist us to return racing as soon as possible.

For the immediate future, however, there are more important priorities.

“The board noted the potentially cata-strophic impact of a sustained period with-out racing on all sectors of the industry and agreed that a series of measures to support the financial, physical and mental wellbeing of industry participants was necessary.

Kavanagh said: “Similar to most indus-tries, the racing and breeding sector will have to look forward now.

We will continue our engagement with Government around the supports that are available for the many people in our industry who have now lost their jobs and whose earning capacity has dramatically reduced.

“Racing and breeding supports almost 29,000 FTEs, mostly in rural Ireland, and a sustained period without racing impacts thousands of those jobs.

”Loss of earnings“When racing went behind closed doors, many staff including bookmakers, Tote staff, catering staff and other racecourse service providers stopped earning.As of yesterday’s stoppage, many others including jockeys, trainers, stable staff, media and many other service providers joined that list.

In the long-term, a cessation of racing has major finan-cial implications for racecourses, sales com-panies, breeders and betting organisations such as the Tote. Supports will be necessary for each of these areas and HRI will work with all parties to achieve this.

”Nicky Hartery concluded: “We fully un-derstand the anxiety that people are experi-encing. Together we are facing an unprec-edented public health crisis and the health of our people is paramount.There is also considerable anxiety around the worsening economic situation.

“We are very aware that thousands of people in our industry are facing into a great deal of uncertainty over the coming weeks and months.

“I would say to you – rest assured that we are working on your behalf with Government to put in place the sup-ports necessary to get you through this cri-sis and back racing again as soon as we are able.

“Irish racing is a resilient sector and we have come through previous challenges such as foot and mouth disease and equine influenza.This is perhaps our greatest chal-lenge, but working together we will come through this too.”