“Every punter’s dream come true,” was one quote used in the press release for the Virtual Grand National set to be shown on ITV this Saturday.

The plausibility of such a statement is very much suspect, but it will be interesting to garner how this goes down with the racing and general public. There have been mixed reviews so far, some seeing it as a fun exercise not to be taken seriously, others comparing it to the betting shop fare from Steepledowns.

The former is surely the way to approach it, especially in these sort of times.

“We use the latest CGI technology and algorithms and we’re ready for Tiger Roll to be a forerunner but now we want to cheer the nation up and we’ll ask the computer if history could have been made” said Rob McLoughlin, the executive producer of Inspired Entertainment who are creating the animation.

“It’s very sad not to have the real race but Inspired’s virtual race is fascinating and fun and has proven since 2017 to be incredibly accurate”.

Also, the fact that people will be familiar with the horses makes it more appealing. This is hardly going to be Wonkey Donkey and Chocolate Charlie going head to head at Steepledowns on a Monday afternoon.

Inspired are also putting together a race of Grand National champions from years gone by, which will see Red Rum and Tiger Roll take on the likes of Hedgehunter and Many Clouds.

This has been done before with the Melbourne Cup in 2010 when organisers commemorated the 150th running of the famous race (see video above). The race of Melbourne Cup champions was called 'The Greatest Cup Never Run' and was put together by Racing Victoria's chief handicapper Greg Carpenter who had the arduous task of rating all 150 winners into a top 24 which was sent to 22 racing experts to decide a finishing order, taking into account the weights assigned and draw.

I often think the Grand National has a very similar stature to the Melbourne Cup so maybe such a production will go down well in this part of the world also.

Most importantly, racing should be thankful to ITV for providing the sport with such coverage when it clearly could have shelved it. Not many other sports have been afforded such attention.

Pinatubo could be set for Guineas cakewalk

IT is somewhat heartening to read that detailed plans are being made for how racing can resume on May 1st by the British Horseracing Association, however unlikely it may be that said plans come to fruition.

Racing to resume in Britain on May 1st is rated around a 6/1 chance on Betfair, having touched a high of 14/1. So it’s still very unlikely, but not completely out of the question and it is quite right that the BHA have planned for such a circumstance. The organisation have set up a special workstream designed to come up with effective ways racing could return after the postponement end date.

One part of the plan is to operate a regional system, similar to what you have in America, where a racecourse or racecourses would be used to host a series of meetings in a certain period, around a week at a time. Newmarket, with its large racing population, would be an obvious place to effectively host racing, as it would involved little or no travel from participants in and outside the region.

Newbury would be an option for Lambourn trainers while there would be lots of option in Yorkshire.

It’s very likely such an operation would involve racing behind doors and obviously the travel restrictions would likely limit the field sizes.

The obvious races to look at is the 2000 Guineas and 1000 Guineas which look a lot different to years gone by.

For the 2000 Guineas, the race revolves around Newmarket resident Pinatubo, so his participation wouldn’t be in doubt but his main opposition, a large proportion of which comes from Ireland could be more or less wiped out.

Aidan O’Brien has won the 2000 Guineas for four of the last five years but surely won’t have a runner in the race this year if it goes ahead as planned on May 2nd.

You can rule out Earthlight, Andre Fabre’s Middle Park winner and Siskin as well. That could leave a depleted field with the likes of Andrew Balding’s Kameko, Ralph Beckett’s Kinross and John Gosden’s Palace Pier among the main opposition to last season’s champion juvenile.

The favourite for the 1000 could also benefit from such a circumstance. Quadrilateral is trained by Roger Charlton, who trains in the Lambourn area, while Jessica Harrington would likely have run one of her classy fillies here as well. Even if both mile classics are run later in the campaign, it could be that international horses are still restricted from travelling.

Racing will not resume until April 19th at the earliest in Ireland but it’s very likely the cessation will extend to May at least, with the Punchestown Festival, due to begin on April 26th, a 13/2 shot to go ahead on Betfair.