12th April 2020

This week we will know a bit more about whether horseracing in the UK will resume anytime soon as the authorities meet to discuss the topic. You don't have to be an expert though to realise that the original comeback date of the end of this month is looking very unlikely as the death toll continues to rise and the country is still in lockdown. Racing has to be seen to be doing the right thing and it worries me how desperate some senior figures in racing are coming across with their insistence that we race as soon as possible. This is a crisis affecting the whole world with lives at risk so racing horses around a field can wait a few more weeks if it means we all get back to normality sooner. This applies to all sports - football, tennis, formula 1 etc. Once we can get on top of everything then we can all go back to enjoying the things we did before.

To be honest, the break has done our horses a lot of good as it has given some of the horses more time to develop when they probably would have had a race for the experience and to give the owners a day out. The horses are all starting to shine in their summer coats and they will be fresh and fit when we do get back racing as they haven't missed a day's training thanks to the great weather we have been enjoying.
Just in case we do race again in the next couple of weeks and to let off a bit of steam for the horses (and riders!) I did take some to the Cambridge Road gallop for a stretch of their legs and a change of scenery this week.

With no racing to keep us busy in the afternoons, stable staff across the country have been doing dance challenges to strut their stuff and Team Feilden's garnered a lot of plaudits on social media this week. All credit to the staff it was all filmed relatively quickly and there weren't many outtakes!