Juvenile Policy Will Now Apply to All Trainers

After the British Horseracing Authority released a policy to ensure that Royal Ascot's 2-year-old races were made up of the highest quality fields possible despite the challenges posed by the coronavirus on Friday, that scheme has now been tweaked to include all trainers after discussions with the National Trainers Federation and the Racehorse Owners Association, the BHA announced on Tuesday afternoon. The policy is intended to manage the demand for 2-year-old runs in the first eight days following the June 1 resumption of racing and was part of a larger bulletin from the BHA's Resumption of Racing group. The BHA's statement read in part:

“In order to get into Ascot races, a previous run is likely to be necessary and the chances of getting one would normally be decided by random ballot. Under the policy, trainers are being asked to identify specific horses that they would like to see given priority against elimination from any division of the currently programmed 2-year-old races.

“The number of horses that can be selected by any trainer is based on their previous record with 2-year-olds in open maiden or novice races as well as the number of runners that they have had in Royal Ascot 2-year-old races in the last three years. The number of priority nominations resulting from this formula is relatively small per trainer, with 126 nominations spread across 50 trainers. This means that we would expect a further 225 places to be available in 2-year-old races in the first eight days for horses that have not been prioritised by their trainers, and qualification for these places will be by random ballot.

“Following further consultation with horsemen representatives it has now also been agreed that trainers that did not qualify for priority selections through this formula will be invited to make up to one selection should they feel that they have a horse that they consider to be an Ascot prospect.”

Trainers will be contacted directly to let them know how they can submit a horse to be given priority against elimination in the first eight days of British racing's resumption. Any submission must be made by May 26, with the full list of submitted horses to be published on May 27.