‘Racing on life-support’
THE general manager of Warwick Racecourse, Andre Klein, describes the sport behind closed doors as “racing on a life-support machine”, and nothing can prepare you for stepping into a near-deserted racecourse for an afternoon of action.
The welcome is still warm - albeit muffled through regulation face-masks. However, the turnstiles are all but redundant and there is an eerie quiet from the normally bustling terraces, thus magnifying the magnificent sound of hooves pounding the turf.
Only a handful of owners are permitted access and must remain in a different zone from the trainers and jockeys - the post-race debrief is now done over the paddock rail. The biggest vacuum emerges when triumphant victors return to the winner’s enclosure to a barely audible ripple of applause.
Really, the only familiarity these days are the
