AT a time of huge uncertainty that has brought with it a plethora of daunting challenges for the country as a whole, the Irish horse racing industry has been forced to confront an uncertain future.

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically altered even the most routine acts and assumptions that govern daily life and that will be the case for quite some time to come. The nature of the challenge it presents to almost every walk of life is something that couldn’t have been contemplated just a few short months ago.

The nature of the obstacles facing the Irish thoroughbred industry cannot be understated or underestimated. Horse racing will now return on June 8th, but the challenges facing the sport and its myriad of different constituents are multitudinous.

Upheaval

From the major upheaval in various sales dates and racing fixtures to the struggles faced by trainers, jockeys and sectors such as the on-course bookmaking fraternity, this is a time like no other.

The last few weeks have also given racing pause for thought concerning its relationship with government. There was certainly a time when racing had a strong voice and lobby in the corridors of power but recent events would suggest that this isn’t necessarily the case, although Martin Heydon’s powerful address to the Dáil on Wednesday was a notable chink of light.

The nature of the crisis that Ireland and a huge number of other countries find themselves in means that the formulation of key decisions are no longer just the preserve of government and senior civil servants.

In the case of this jurisdiction, the National Public Health Emergency Team is playing a central role in how the country emerges from its period of lockdown.

This in part would suggest that racing was always going to face an uphill struggle to return to action behind closed doors as quickly as possible. Nonetheless, the last few weeks have offered pointers that racing needs to examine how it gets its message across to those that hold the reins of power.

The sport’s proven ability to hold fixtures behind closed doors coupled with the fact that other major racing jurisdictions – such as France – are back in working order should make the decision to resume earlier than other sports a relatively straight forward one

However, decisions at government level are, at least in part, being taken by a caretaker administration who are effectively without a mandate following February’s general election. When this is taken into account, perhaps it was always expecting too much for a caretaker government to give racing a green light to return by mid-May as this is not a decision that would be a universally popular one.

Society has changed a great deal over the last 15 years or so and from racing’s point of view the magnitude of negative commentary in Ireland that accompanied the latest edition of the Cheltenham Festival is evidence of this.

It is an example that possibly racing’s position within society isn’t quite what it used to be which is something to be considered well beyond the current crisis.

By now the dust is starting to settle on what was effectively a communication blackout from Horse Racing Ireland that took place from May 1st to May 7th. On the first day of this month Leo Varadkar addressed the nation and outlined Ireland’s phased emergence from lockdown, yet it was only six days later that Horse Racing Ireland released a statement confirming that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine had outlined that June 29th was indeed the date for racing to return behind closed doors.

Within that statement, it was noted that the government would engage and consult with various sectors on possible changes to the lifting of restrictions earlier than scheduled within the roadmap as outlined at the start of the month.

Unquestionably racing’s representative body was working hard towards a possible earlier resumption of the sport. Even so, Horse Racing Ireland’s period of silence on the matter appeared a less than inspired call. As it happens HRI didn’t have anything revelatory to say between the time that Leo Varadkar made his speech and the organisation made its own statement.

Communication

However, an industry that generates close to €2 billion in economic activity and supports close to 30,000 jobs was entitled to some form of communication rather than silence. In times such as these and in a country such as this, people are entitled to expect better as this silence gave way to a dangerous vacuum in which speculation ran riot for a number of days.

Lastly, even the broadest of outlines for racing through the second half of the year would be of help to many of those within the industry. Even at this stage, the likes of fixture and programming are, understandably, up in the air but with regard to the actual races - will their prize funds be impacted and what are we to expect regarding prize money through the second half of 2020?

Is it the case that the likes of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby and the Irish Champion Stakes will be run for the same prize values as 2019 and what will races like the Galway Hurdle or Plate look like? Will their values be impacted, when will they take place and what will base values look like for everyday races?

The reality is that the resumption of racing is of paramount importance to the industry. Undoubtedly the finer details of the programme will follow but events of the last couple of weeks have shown that some degree of information sharing would go a long way towards quelling unrest and put to bed some of the wilder theories that tend to abound during periods of silence.