Does horse-racing have a future?

Asked, after his Imperial Aura’s impressive win in the Northern Trust Novices’ Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, if he had been worried about one particular challenger in the race, Kim Bailey wryly replied: ‘Of course I was worried. I’m a racehorse trainer.’ Trainers now have a lot more to worry about. When we finally resume racing — and few expect it to be after the six weeks originally announced — how many of the 14,000 racehorses in training as the suspension was announced will be coming back? How many owners whose businesses have suffered from Covid-19 will see paying bills for forage, farriers and vets’ attentions as a priority use for their remaining funds? How many self-employed jockeys who were struggling anyway to make a decent living will have departed the sport to seek something more secure? Certainly some will be struggling with their weight: for the few days that racing in Ireland continued behind closed doors after the British shutdown, jockeys’ weights were all raised 2lb because they couldn’t use the on-course saunas.