SYDNEY, April 5, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Punters in the UK had to make do with a
virtual Grand National this weekend, but in Australia and Asia they are still
able to enjoy a flutter on the real thing, albeit only online.
Sydney’s autumn racing festival burst out of the gates Saturday to little
fanfare on an Australia Derby Day held without the customary throngs of well-
dressed spectators.
Royal Randwick racecourse was open only to “essential” Racing New South
Wales and Australian Turf Club staff, as well as a handful of participants
and media.
Owners were kept away as jockeys competed in the first day of the Aus$20
million (US$12 million) “The Championships”, though the day’s races were
broadcast live with bets taken online.
Champion New Zealand trainer Murray Baker recorded a fifth win in the Derby
with Quick Thinker and one he is likely never to forget — he had to watch it
from his sofa back home in Cambridge on the other side of the Tasman Sea.
“When you’re in lockdown, any win is good,” Baker told the Sun-Herald
newspaper.
“We’ve got no horses here, there are no cars driving past, so it’s quite
eerie,” Baker said before revealing how he would celebrate.
“I can have a beer,” he said. “I’ll have more than one.”
Racing in Australia has continued behind closed doors in all states except
Tasmania, which last week enforced a shutdown.
Five cards were scheduled on Sunday from New South Wales to Western
Australia while in Asia, behind closed doors meetings were also taking place
in Hong Kong and Japan.
Horse racing is one of the few global sports to be left standing in the
face of the coronavirus pandemic, though the Singapore Turf Club finally
caved in on Friday and suspended all racing until May 4 after soldiering on
with a reduced programme in March.
The Championships in Sydney continue next Saturday in front of empty
stands, as Australia seeks to slow the spread of COVID-19 through
restrictions on mass gatherings.