Kavanagh Defends Horse Racing Ireland's Radio Silence

Brian Kavanagh has defended Horse Racing Ireland's six-day radio silence, and while the authority's chief executive empathized with frustrated industry stakeholders, he insisted that the resumption of racing is a matter on which the government will have the ultimate say.

The department of agriculture finally confirmed May 7 that the resumption of racing behind closed doors is slated in the government's road map, which was published last Friday, for June 29 at the earliest.

Shortly after Thursday's announcement, HRI broke its near week-long communications silence, and Kavanagh argued that it would have been wrong to announce anything before the proper guidance had filtered through from the government.

"The main issue was to resolve the overall situation. We were seeking clarification, and when you have nothing to say, it's best to say nothing," Kavanagh said.

"I can empathize with everyone in the industry and the many other industries that are struggling in this pandemic. I can totally understand the situation people are in."

Kavanagh also stressed that while HRI is lobbying to bring forward the date for racing's resumption, the decision is out of his hands.

Sources have suggested HRI has not yet given up on a recommencement of racing as early as phase one, which kicks in May 18, but that a middle-ground resolution in phase two June 8 would at this stage be a satisfactory outcome.

"Ultimately, as we have said all along, this is a matter for the government and for the medical professionals," Kavanagh said. "We have put our case forward, and it would be wrong to speculate on any date for resumption.

"We said in the press release that was issued on Thursday evening that we believe racing can resume earlier than June 29, but that is a decision which is out of our control. We have made the case, and we will engage now as the Taoiseach outlined in his Dail speech on Thursday."

HRI previously stated in its COVID-19 contingency plan that flat racing would take precedence when racing is given the green light to resume. Those plans are understood to have been made on the assumption that racing would resume sometime in May.

However, Gordon Elliott and Robbie Power, masters of their respective crafts in the jumps sphere, called on HRI to restart the sport as a whole given the revised resumption date.

Kavanagh suggested that flat racing remains the priority but that both codes will be looked after in due course.

"There is a backlog of flat racing we need to catch up on," he explained. "We will get resumed and then we will look at the details of the resumption. We said we would resume with four weeks of flat racing, and we will see how that goes. It all depends on when the resumption takes place."

Asked if a June 29 resumption would effectively lead to jumps racing returning at the end of July at the earliest, Kavanagh said: "It is too far away to speculate on that. I wouldn't speculate on any resumption date at this stage."

He added: "We will make certain that horses are satisfied in both codes as needed, and as I said, March until May is the start of the flat season, and the priority is to get that started. 

"But we will look across the whole range of ages, categories, quality of horse, both jumps, and Flat, but it will depend on the resumption dates."