THE return of racing from the start of this week has been good news to everyone who follows the Sport of Kings, writes Richard Walsh.

David Pipe, who trains at Nicholashayne, near Wellington, enjoyed a successful time last season with 64 winners over the jumps and two on the flat.

Like all of those involved in the racing industry the lockdown has affected on his yard.

“Jumps trainers were lucky because we’d all but finished our season by the time the lockdown came into force, so I don’t think it has affected us as much as the flat trainers who were just going into their full season,” he said. “Our season came to an abrupt end and we had to put the horses out earlier than normal when it was cold and there wasn’t much grass about, just like now.”

Pipe added: “Most of the horses are out to grass now and we now have only about 15 horses in at present, which is the smallest number of horses we have ever had, and obviously a lot of staff have been furloughed

“We are lucky we have lots of land around us and we can send the horses out, so we are taking it day by day.”

Looking ahead Pipe said: “They are talking about jumps racing starting again at the beginning of July and flat racing. There have been a lot of protocols put in place so hopefully that will all go well, like we have seen it going well in France and other countries.

“Hopefully, as long as we don’t get a second spike I see no reason why jump racing can’t start soon.

“We will start to get a few more horses in from grass this week and we will have a small team for the summer and hope to have some ready to go on July 1.“