Mike Cattermole hails the return of racing and is impressed with some performances too

Relief was the overwhelming feeling about racing’s return at Newcastle on Monday. It was just great to be back.

And there was sympathy too. To both the connections of December Second, who lost his life in a freak accident, and to the team who had left no stone unturned in creating a safe environment to make racing happen again in the UK, only to be literally tripped up by something that they had no control over - fate.

Even if you restrict the size of the field to just 12, there is nothing you can do to prevent a mishap such as horses clipping heels and falling. The statistics tell us that a fall in a Flat race happens once in about 3,000 races and it was so unfortunate that Murphy’s Law chose this particular day to make its own unneeded and unwanted point.

And it all led to more relief, but of a different kind, about both PJ McDonald, the rider of December Second, and Jim Crowley, brought down from Financial Conduct. The fact that they didn’t require any hospital treatment. We didn’t want that at all, not on this day. We got away with it - this time.

It wasn’t just the act of racing, more that the whole racing industry had in effect been mothballed since March 17, two and a half months ago. That’s a long time and, no doubt to some, both in and out of racing’s 20,000 full-time workforce, it would have felt a lot longer.

The racing calendar has undergone more than a few tweaks and we will end the first week in June with Classic action at Newmarket. Many have been bogged down in the shape of the new fixture list and no doubt arguments will have been fueled by self-interest. The point is that we are back and horses can be trained with a proper target in mind.

We in racing do tend to be a little inward looking and take offence when others, who are not interested, begin to lash out and criticize. Unlike most other sports, however, racing is rather unique as it has huge welfare issues to contend with.

Horses just cannot be turned out in a field when there is no racing. They need to be looked after and that is why the restart is so crucial to their wellbeing.

Given that the Flat season should have begun at Doncaster on March 28, we are just a shade over two months behind schedule and I don’t think that is too bad a result against the wider backdrop.

It is also great news for the sales season. After all, racehorses cannot be sold unless there is an end product – who would want to buy them?

The big breeze-up sales of the spring have been postponed more than once and sales companies have been adapting to these changing times with Goffs UK and Arqana even teaming up to stage a joint breeze-up sale, based at Goffs HQ in Kildare, on June 29 and 30.

However, the margins of those who are selling have already been squeezed as horses have had to be kept longer, staff employed for longer and, given the imminent recession, prices will be almost certainly suffer.

Speaking of hardship, the return of racing behind closed doors will do nothing for on-course bookmakers and who knows when the time will come for them to be welcomed back to the fold? How many will no longer be in business then?

Meanwhile, we were told that on-line betting was said to be up on a normal Monday and it would have been disappointing and very surprising if it hadn’t been.

I have not seen any figures yet from Sky Sports Racing but again, they would surely have been healthy, especially with the output featuring two Classics from Deauville (Victor Ludorum looked very good) in a country where racing behind closed doors has already been successful and quickly become the norm.

I watched with a degree of fascination to see how different it looked and felt at a British racecourse and admired the measures that had been put in place at Gosforth Park, with the new-look layout of the weighing room, the social distancing in the parade ring and, of course, the masks.

I can’t be the only one to find masks somewhat claustrophobic, so fair play to the jockeys, on both sides of the English Channel, who have just got on with it during what has been an exceptionally hot spell for the time of the year.

And there were some sizzling performances out there on the track, too, notably from Tim Easterby’s Art Power.

The son of Dark Angel, who defied a penalty in style, could be one for the Friday of the new-look Royal Ascot, either in the Commonwealth Cup (6f) or perhaps the brand new Palace of Holyroodhouse Handicap for three-year-olds over the minimum trip.

John Gosden is clearly a fan of Newcastle’s Tapeta - Stradivarius and Enable both won their maidens there, after all - so how good could Frankly Darling turn out to be after her five-length romp in a time that was about a second quicker than the other division? A Ribblesdale filly maybe?

Rab Havlin was on board there but Frankie Dettori was back with a winner at Kempton on Tuesday, on the Gosden-trained Galsworthy who could turn out to be a Queens Vase type.

Also on that same card, wasn’t First Receiver good? The Queen’s colt has clearly done very well and will do even better when he is stepped up in trip.

Now, he could be one for the Hampton Court Stakes on the Wednesday.

So, there we are, only back for a day or two and already getting very excited about Royal Ascot! We don’t have long to wait.

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