THE 2020 Cheltenham Festival may be just over a week away but the odds on it going ahead at all continue to tumble due to the continuing spread of the Coronavirus across the globe.
It’s a scenario that everyone in racing is desperate to avoid but matters could be taken out of their hands by England’s Chief Medical officer who has warned that drastic measures may have to be taken if a pandemic hits the UK.
A suspension of mass gatherings could be deployed in order to prevent the spreading of the virus, this would obviously affect the Cheltenham Festival as well as other major sports and entertainment events.
Italian football has already moved to curtail the virus. A handful of games were cancelled last weekend and six Serie A games in affected regions will be played behind closed doors this weekend.
News has also broken today that the Swiss football league has been postponed due to the virus this weekend.
JUST IN:
Switzerland postponed weekend round of Swiss football League due to #coronavirus outbreak— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) February 28, 2020
Cycling has also been affected with the UAE Tour being cancelled after it was discovered that two Italian competitiors were confirmed to have COVID-19.
OddsChecker report thatover £283,000 has been matched on the Betfair Exchange as to ‘Will racing go ahead?’ at the Festival.
The Festival was last postponed back in 2001 and then eventually cancelled due to the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. This time around the BHA claims to have contingencies in place should it have to be cancelled again with the option to re-stage it at a later date.
Everyone involved in racing faces an anxious wait to see how things will pan out in the coming week but fingers crossed the Greatest Show on Turf doesn’t fall victim to the Coronavirus.
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