BHA Publishes Summer Fixtures, Safety Guidelines

The British Horseracing Authority has published a provisional fixture list for the remainder of June, July and August. Racing's governing body had previously released the programme for racing's first week of resumption from June 1, and says the full programme for the remainder of June will be published on Monday. The BHA also published its guidelines for the safe resumption of racing.

“We had originally hoped to complete and publish the June race programme this week, however with elements of this still to be finalised, doing so would have provided racecourses and participants with an incomplete picture of how the provisional programme will look, and one that would in all likelihood need to be amended subsequent to publication,” the BHA's release read.

Key meetings Glorious Goodwood and York Ebor remain unchanged from their original schedule. Fixtures in Scotland and Wales have been provisionally scheduled and will be confirmed following further consultation with those governments on timelines for potential resumption. Seventy-two hour declarations will be in place from June 1; fields will be limited to 12 runners for non-pattern races but not for listed and pattern races; and, as previously announced, international runners will be permitted for the three Group 1s during the first fortnight after resumption, with the plan to open that to all pattern and listed races from June 15 onward.

With regards to the safety guidelines, the BHA's Chief Regulatory Officer Brant Dunshea said, “Racing has been able to develop its guidelines based on our experience of operating bio-secure environments to control the spread of infection in horses, and a robust approach to regulation and enforcing the rules. Our trainers, jockeys and staff carry out their roles in a highly disciplined way because working with horses always carries risks. I am very confident they will adapt quickly to this new set of measures designed to protect them from transmission of the virus.”