The coronavirus has meant that normal life has ground to a halt and event after event has been cancelled. It has resulted in a near world-wide lockdown but improvements have been made and it appears that we are now moving back to normality. The Cheltenham festival took place back in March but since then all events have been cancelled in the UK racing scene, that includes the World famous Grand National. This in comparison to the US, which has seen racing continue on a few racecourses behind closers doors.
The latter is something that is now being incorporated across a number of sports in order to see a return. The UFC have hosted a number of events without fans and proved it works well and can still be a success.
Racing is also now set to resume in Britain in the coming weeks, before leading to Royal Ascot going ahead behind closed doors. This is fantastic news for the sport and connections, who have had to sit on the sidelines until now and it sets up for a fascinating return.
Royal Ascot is now odds on to go ahead, with Ladbrokes already pricing up many different races for the meeting and putting out a number of great offers for racing fans. It is likely to prove a hugely popular event for punters, with the recent UFC event posting a record for money bet on a similar event, so this could just be the same with interest from around the world.
However, if it does go ahead, which now appears very likely, It will not be a normal Royal Ascot. The five day event will not include the Royal procession, which is something people tune into see each day. It would mean this is the first time without the Queen in attendance in her 68-year reign in Britain. This giving a further example of the severity of the situation.
It will be a huge boost for the industry if the event goes ahead and for racing and sport fans alike, who have had to sit and wait for normality to resume. It has also been added that the meeting will again be open for international runners, so will the US again be taking over a team of runners? Wesley Ward also been waiting for the positive news and as expected will again be taking over a strong team of runners for his annual trip to Ascot.