Racing the first sport in England under starters orders after coronavirus lockdown

Trainers hope the novelty of live sport will attract new fans

Trainer Hugo Palmer on his gallops in Newmarket as racing becomes the first sport to return in England. AFP

English racing will offer a beacon of hope after months of nationwide gloom when it becomes the first sport in Britain to emerge from coronavirus lockdown on Monday.

Criticised for pressing ahead with the mass-attendance Cheltenham Festival as the pandemic took hold in March, racing now finds itself in the news in an altogether more positive light.

It returns at Newcastle with a surreal feel with no spectators to watch the 10 flat races restricted to 12 runners per contest and trainers, jockeys and grooms wearing masks.

There will be none of the usual celebratory hugs or shake of the hands between jockeys and trainers as social distancing officers will be on hand to ensure people stay two metres apart.

However, leading flat trainer Hugo Palmer said morale at his stables in Newmarket has been high but admits it might have dipped had racing "not been around the corner".

Palmer believes racing resuming for the first time since March 17 is a "tremendous opportunity" for the sport.

"There is precious little else to watch although it coincides with the day the government allows more people to meet outside," he said. "However, we have to hope people will stay inside and watch the racing. It is a real opportunity to pick up new followers."

Palmer, who has around 100 horses, maintains racing owes a huge debt to the loyalty of owners through the crisis as they could have cut their training costs by taking them away while the sport was shut down.

"People largely own racehorses for pleasure and amusement," he said.

"The sport is only able to go ahead on Monday because of the thousands of horses owners have continued to pay to have in training.

"The overwhelming majority of staff were not furloughed and we have not existed on government handouts.

"We all owe them (the owners) a huge debt of gratitude. If they had pulled them out of training then we would not have been in a position to put sport on at all."

Huge crowds attended the Cheltenham Festival in March, drawing criticism amid the spread of the coronavirus. PA

Phoenix Thoroughbreds - who have over 60 horses in the United Kingdom - will have one runner on Monday, Luck on Sunday trained by John Quinn.

"We made a commitment at the start of the lockdown not to take any of our horses out of training and we stuck to that," Phoenix Thoroughbred's CEO Amer Abdulaziz Salman said.

"For us, we need to race not just for the prize money but also for the breeding side of our operation."

Salman takes the same view as Palmer that it could be a new dawn for the sport.

"This is an unprecedented opportunity for racing in the UK to raise its profile," he said.

"With no other sport to watch, you would hope a whole new audience and even generation will tune in."

Palmer has two runners at Newcastle - the racecourse where two-time Arc de Triomphe winner Enable opened her account in November 2016 - but will not be gracing the track with his presence.

"I have a very experienced team of people who are very good at their jobs," he said. "With restricted numbers my presence would be unnecessary.

"Besides there is nowhere to get lunch, nowhere to get a drink.

"People will be just going back to their cars (when they don't have runners involved in a particular race) and listening to the radio or watching the racing on their phones."