Andrew Nelis racing

John Quinn has every reason to look forward to an exciting campaign when racing hopefully restarts next week. The Malton trainer was among the winners before the coronavirus shutdown brought the sport to a halt in mid-March - and hopes to resume where he left off, with stable stars Liberty Beach, Safe Voyage and El Astronaute all reported to be doing well and ready to run.

Since the cessation of racing in Britain (March 18) and Ireland (March 24) due to the coronavirus pandemic, their respective racing authorities have devised detailed behind-closed-doors resumption plans.  The BHA is working towards  restarting on June 1 , the earliest point at which the UK government will consider a return of professional sport in line with the prime minister's phased plan to exit lockdown. In Ireland, the sport was pencilled in to return on June 29 but that date was  brought forward to June 8  by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who stressed the importance of the industry to the economy.