Scottish racing officials are set to met with the country’s sports minister, Joe Fitzpatrick, on Tuesday to discuss when the sport could return.
Racing authorities around the world are all debating when it will be possible for action to resume, with most countries having enforced a halt the action last month due to the current coronavirus pandemic.
The five tracks across Scotland – Ayr, Kelso, Hamilton, Musselburgh and Perth – are hoping to determine when they can host racing again, but its Kelso’s chief executive Jonathon Garratt who will hold talks with Mr Fitzpatrick, as Scottish Racing’s manager Delly Innes is currently furloughed.
Garratt told the Racing Post: “I’ll tell him about the five Scottish racecourses that aren’t able to race and are losing fixtures at a rate of knots. If you lose those events you lose a huge percentage of your economic activity so it is a severe shock to the system – as it is to all parts of the economy.
“We want to establish a route back to work, the sooner we can get some activity back on courses the sooner we’ll be able to earn revenue and feed that through to the rest of the sport and its suppliers.”
Meanwhile, the return of racing in France looks to have taken a step closer after France Galop president Edouard de Rothschild revealed Paris police have given permission for racing to resume at Longchamp next Monday (May 11).
Racing in France has been suspended since March 17, but France Galop has been preparing a bumper return card for next week’s intended resumption – although the action would take place behind closed doors.
