NAAS Racecourse will honour 20 ‘Lockdown Heroes’ during tomorrow’s (Sunday) big day. To mark the first staging of the €320,000 Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes, the racecourse asked the public to nominate their Covid-19 champions, the people in their community who went the extra mile to help others during the pandemic.

Based all over the country, most of the 20 heroes are frontline workers. They include doctors, nurses, guards, postmen, Order of Malta volunteers, Covid-19 test centre volunteers, food parcel suppliers. Sadly we don’t have room to print their astonishing stories of unselfishness and dedication to their communities here. Pity the Ballyhane Stakes can’t be a deadheat – they’re all winners.