Dan Skelton on life without racing, challenges and industry concerns

Thispandemic has affected the yard massively. It is unprecedented. You just don’tplan for anything like this and you don’t have an action plan. We know what todo if we get bad weather or equine flu after last year.

We are ableto deal with these things and there is a process in place but this is justtotally unusual and worrying. Unfortunately, I know of two people who have diedfrom Coronavirus so it is real and all we can do is look after each other andget through this as best we can and hope for as few casualties as possible.

“I thinkthis pandemic has shown just how strong we are.”

The staffhave been brilliant. They understand the horses and the owners understand thenecessity to look after them. I think this pandemic has shown just how strongwe are.

Unfortunately,we have had to use the furlough system. We need jobs to come back to and thatis why the furlough system is there. It is there to protect jobs and to ensurewe can get back to full productivity.

I thinkgenerally we will survive this as an industry but there is no question thatthere will be casualties. They will certainly come in the form of trainers,owners, and even racecourses and jockeys.

Jockeys areself-employed and will be looking for alternative work during this period ofinactivity. If a few of them got a different job off the back of this throughnecessity, then they might not come back to the industry.

Thepotential scope of ‘damage’ is unlimited and possibly landscape changing forour sport. I don’t know what the future is going to look like for our sport,but it is definitely going to be slightly diminished. We are no different toany other industry.

“I trynot to spend too much of my day thinking about when racing will resume”

During thispandemic, my typical day now is just management really and making sure we dothe right thing for the horses. I try not to spend too much of my day thinkingabout when racing will resume.

Realistically nobody knows if we will start racing again on May 1stand if we do, we don’t know what that will look like. The whole thing is up in the air.

However, it pales into insignificance when you look at what’s going on in the real world every day. I am just staying at home and keeping busy.

“We havegone into survival mode”

The biggestchallenge professionally is getting racing on again. That will bring us somenormality back. At the end of the day, we are creatures of habit and we are wellout of sync right now. The biggest problem we all have is the lack ofcertainty.

If we knewthat this would be over on say June 15th, we would all look forward to that daybut nobody knows when this will end. I think the not knowing is the hardestthing. All we hope is that we are not hit too hard by it. We have gone intosurvival mode.

I am surethe resumption of racing will be fair and equal, and everyone will be givenequal opportunities. There is a misconception that flat is just a summer gameand jumps is a winter game.

There are alot of trainers who rely on income all year round and that’s their businessmodel. The modern trainer and system is there for 12 months of the year. I cansee that being an issue.

Thetraditionalists are going to have to realise the cold facts; that a lot oftrainers who started off in the last 10/15 years recognise the industry as a12-month business. We have to stand together on this and I fear that we are indanger of divisions if we are not clear and conscious of the two facets ofracing.

“There isnothing quite like being together with people”

On a lessserious note, I have become very good at gardening and I am spending plenty oftime at it.  I haven’t gone as far as painting and crocheting though!

When this isall over, the economy will need a big boost and I think it will get one becauseeveryone I know just wants to go out for a steak or curry. We just want tosocialise. There is nothing quite like being together with people. I would loveto be able to go and visits Grace’s mum and dad. Hopefully the lockdown isrelaxed by Easter so we can do that.

Cheltenhamfeels like a long time ago but upon reflection, I would say we had an okfestival. I was a bit disappointed that Allmankind ran a bit flat but as I saidat the time, if he had been on his absolute A-game, Goshen was going to be avery impressive winner.

The rest ofmy runners all ran well. I don’t think any of them underperformed as such andit is just a shame we didn’t land a winner or two. It is always so competitivethere as everybody knows. In hindsight, I am absolutely amazed the festival waseven on but we will just look forward to next year’s meeting now.

Dan.