TOP northern trainer Richard Fahey admits he could be forced into running unraced horses at Royal Ascot.
When the sport resumes spots in early juvenile races will be like winning a golden ticket to the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory.
And it means trainers could be forced into sending unraced youngsters and horses yet to win to the Royal Meeting pencilled in for June 16.
An announcement is expected on Ascot’s schedule tomorrow but with limited time and opportunities to get a run into juveniles it could make for an interesting Coventry and Norfolk Stakes.
Fahey told Sun Racing: “It won’t be great to start with and there’s going to be a hell of a backlog from those that don’t get in the first races.
“It’ll be luck of the draw through ballots to start with and it’ll mean making any plans is impossible.
“I’ve probably got about 15 two-year-olds ready to go for the first races which shows you how tricky it will be.”
And for those good enough to be thinking about Ascot, there is sure to be a few headaches throughout the training ranks.
Fahey added: “I think we’d have to go to Ascot with potentially maidens and even horses that haven’t run before.
“But then again you’re not even guaranteed to get a run there, there’ll be the ballots again!
“My horses have been ready for about six weeks now. We kept getting glimmers of hope and we had to be ready in case.
“They’re not like cars, you can’t just switch them on and off.”
The latest update from the Racing Resumption Group has pencilled in a start from June 1 as Phase 2 of the Government’s plan for easing the lockdown restrictions begins.
Fahey hopes the government will go one step further and confirm these dates as soon as possible to end the uncertainty within the industry.
He said: “It would be great to get a concrete date now.
“The government need to help us with that, they need to say ‘yeah you can get going from then.’
“We’re still guessing and even June 1 isn’t confirmed and it’s that dreaded best-case scenario again.
“It’s got to the stage now where people need to get back to work and they need to help us.
“We want to work again as an industry. We don’t want to come across as selfish but we just want to go to work and the messages have been mixed from the government.
“It’s the poor owners and the horses themselves that are suffering the most.”
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