TOP trainer John Gosden has admitted there will be major casualties within racing if crowds don’t return.
After Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced sports would be without paying punters for at least six months, Gosden fears the worst.
The Newmarket handler believes racing needs a restructure and that lobbying the government for a return of crowds to the races before other sports can be done.
He explained: “If it goes on and on then there is an inevitability that there would be casualties of course and that goes for everything. Racecourses, owners and trainers.
“We have to try and get through it, everyone is facing the same but I think we need to do some restructuring.
“The last thing we want is to run over to government and just ask for money. We have to reorganise ourselves as much as possible.
“If this can’t focus the minds nothing will.”
Speaking at the Cambridgeshire Meeting where 1000 punters had been expected each day before the pilot was scrapped, Gosden went on to say how key it is for crowds to return.
He said: “Of course you miss crowds. You go to places like York and Doncaster and it hits you.
“At first I didn’t, but now you do. It’s an integral part and you do start worrying about the future of some racecourses, some may have to go.
“And it’s not great for owners – they’re stuck in pens, they can’t get close to their horses and they can’t bring friends.
“I’ve long felt the view that we should have managed crowds at the races. Look at the big open spaces we have.
“We have hundreds of acres of open air area. We’re not sitting in a stadium cheek by cheek. And we’re certainly not at the crucible sitting inside for a snooker match!
“But legislation is a blunt tool and it’s not able to distinguish between certain things. I think we have to lobby and make a case for it.
“The French have carried on quite happily and I just feel that it’s going to be inch-by-inch.
“As I’ve said from the very beginning. I feel much more secure on a racetrack than I do going to the supermarket or filling up with petrol.”
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