They say you don’t know what you've got until it’s gone.
Just look at the racecard for the Betway Welcome Back British Racing Handicap at Newcastle on Monday. A 0-65, Class 6 contest over a mile. It’s a thing of beauty.
When the shutters came down on the sport on March 17, it was an inevitable move by the British Horseracing Authority. Soon after, the country went into lockdown and the sporting calendar disappeared.
Now, as elements of the restrictions are eased by the Government, we have been given the green light to return.
During the absence of live action we’ve endeavoured to try and keep our readers engaged through various features and columns.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Let’s Talk About discussions and the Magnificent Seven countdowns, among others.
We tried to bring a taste of what was happening in the stables, stud farms and racecourses throughout the country through various articles by the likes of Oli Bell, Ed Chamberlin and Fran Berry.
We’ve spoken to some of the leading trainers, jockeys and owners - 50 in total - bringing stable tours to the site, culminating in the creation of the Sporting Life 100 – a list of must-have horses for your trackers this season.
Without your continued support we wouldn’t have been able to do this. I’ve always liked to think we have a loyal and engaged audience on our site but this has really been confirmed over the last two-and-a-half months.
As racing resumes, we’re looking to hit the ground running. 'Every day’s a Saturday' is our mantra – and the incredible feeling of anticipation we all have now will be reflected in our output.
We’ll have daily previews from Simon Holt and the Sporting Life racing team, plus Richard Fahey’s guides to his runners as the Musley Bank juggernaut rolls into action.
We were delighted and proud to unveil Oisin Murphy as our latest columnist during the lockdown and in the weeks and months ahead he’ll provide unmissable insight on the major meetings and festivals we can finally look forward to.
Our new apps have been launched on android and Apple devices and have been positively received and we’re looking to expand our podcast output, Cornelius Lysaght joining our team for weekly debates.
Of course, we still have full and free video form and the My Stable tracker which allows you to follow horses, trainers and jockeys and receive notifications of entries via email.
But as we revert to a daily racing service we don’t want our ‘new normal’ to mean less contact with our readers. Even as we look ahead, we'll continue with those themes of nostalgia and debate, and welcome feedback on anything we publish be that good, bad, or ugly.
There are exciting plans for the Sporting Life moving forward and we need to take you with us.
Any comments, observations or general racing feedback is welcomed by email at racingfeedback@sportinglife.com or on our Facebook Racing Community page.
On behalf of Ben Linfoot, Matt Brocklebank, Richard Mann and the rest of the racing team, many thanks for helping us through the lockdown and here’s to the feast of action that lies ahead.
Now back to the card at Gosforth Park.
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