Ludlow Racecourse braced for virus to cause 'big financial blow'

All racing in the UK has been cancelled until the end of April due to the coronavirus pandemic – just one day after it was announced racing would continue behind closed doors.

Tuesday's meetings at Wetherby and Taunton went ahead without spectators and from today, all racing has been suspended.

As a result, races penned for today at Ludlow have been cancelled and General manager and clerk of the course Simon Sherwood is anticipating a big financial impact.

"It's a big financial blow for us, it's our income," he said.

"Without the crowds we would have been able to keep going, just, but now without the racing it's our main source of income.

"We are lucky to have a wonderful landlord in the Earl of Plymouth and we have a base of financial strength.

"So we're in a better position than most but we can only sustain that for so long."

On Monday it was announced that racing would continue behind closed doors, something that Sherwood insisted would 'keep the industry moving'.

Ireland are continuing with that strategy and while Sherwood 'appreciates' the strain it would have had on personnel, he feels that racing without spectators would still have sustained the business.

"It's obviously disappointing but it's where we are as a country and as a world right now – it's a bit surreal and scary," he added.

"In our sport we are very doctor dependent so I understand that they have more important jobs to be doing.

"Our challenge was never going to be racing without crowds as we could have done it behind closed doors, our challenge was always going to be the medical side of it.

"That was always going to be our breaking point.

"We're going to batten down the hatches – there's still work to be done on maintaining and looking after the course, but it's frustrating as there's not a lot more we can do.

"Looking forward, we're hoping we can continue racing in May."