Australia Derby races on in front of empty stands

SYDNEY • British punters had to make do with a virtual Grand National over the weekend, but in Australia and Asia, they are still able to enjoy a flutter on the real thing, albeit only online.

Sydney's autumn racing festival burst out of the gates on Saturday to little fanfare, with the coronavirus pandemic resulting in a scaled-back event.

The Australia Derby Day was held without the customary throngs of well-dressed spectators, with the Royal Randwick racecourse open only to "essential" Racing New South Wales and Australian Turf Club staff, as well as a handful of participants and the media.

Owners were kept away as jockeys competed in the A$20 million (S$17.25 million) championships, although the day's races were broadcast live with bets taken online.

While Kiwi trainer Murray Baker recorded his fifth win in the derby with thoroughbred Quick Thinker, this will be one race he will not forget - he had to watch it from his sofa back home in Cambridge on the other side of the Tasman Sea due to travel restrictions.

"When you're in lockdown, any win is good," the New Zealander told local daily The Sun-Herald. "We've got no horses here, there are no cars driving past, so it's quite eerie."

On how he would toast another victory, Baker added: "I can have a beer. I'll have more than one."

Racing in Australia has continued behind closed doors in all states except Tasmania, which last week enforced a shutdown.

Yesterday, five cards took place from New South Wales to Western Australia while in Asia, behind closed doors, meetings were also staged in Hong Kong and Japan.

Horse racing is one of the few global sports to be left standing in the face of the Covid-19 crisis, though the Singapore Turf Club announced on Saturday that all local race meetings would be suspended until May 4.

The championships in Sydney continue next Saturday in front of empty stands, as Australia seeks to slow the spread of the disease by restricting mass gatherings.

But in Europe, which has been hit hard by Covid-19, authorities have taken a hardline approach to sport, with closed-door events also banned.

That meant the Grand National, the annual steeplechase at Aintree, Liverpool, had to be cancelled.

Airing in place of the actual race was a virtual "Grand National" put together using computer-generated imagery and algorithms.

The event, which was backed by major bookmakers and broadcast on TV as well as livestreamed, was won by a simulation of thoroughbred Potter's Corner.

All profits from the race on Saturday were donated to the National Health Services' Charities Together, an umbrella body representing more than 140 charities.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS