BHA sets up steering group on outbreak’s threat to sportNigel Twiston-Davies terrified meeting may be called offFear and phlegmatism were among the reactions offered by trainers on Wednesday when asked about the threat posed to next month’s Cheltenham Festival by the coronavirus outbreak. Organisers insist the four-day race-meeting, which is the highlight of the jump-racing year, is on track to go ahead as planned but privately there is sure to be fretting about what would happen if the number of cases in
Britain were to increase.
“Gordon Bennett, it terrifies me,” said Nigel Twiston-Davies, expressing concern about the Festival being abandoned rather than about development of the virus itself. The situation reminds the Gold Cup-winning trainer of the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak, when the presence of sheep grazing on racecourse grounds resulted in that year’s Festival being lost.