© Provided by The GuardianPhotograph: Islandstock/Alamy Stock Photo
There was a rare show of unity between trainers and bookmakers on Tuesday as leading names including Nigel Twiston-Davies and Evan Williams lent their support to an idea floated by the betting industry that this year's Grand National should be put back a week to 17 April, five days after betting shops are due to re-open in England.
And it is not, on the face of it, a bad idea at all. Online betting is all very well, but when it comes to the National, walking out of a shop clutching a slip which could turn into hard cash later in the day is very much part of the fun. The boost in turnover - and therefore in revenue for an industry that has been behind closed doors since last March - could be immense. As Twiston-Davies put it in the Racing Post: "It can't do any harm at all, can it?"
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But the purdah which descended on every relevant executive when asked for comment on Tuesday - including those at the BHA, Aintree itself and Jockey Club Racecourses - feels quite telling. Because, let's face it, shifting the world's most famous steeplechase from one weekend to the next is never going to be that simple, and could well be, for various practical or contractual reasons, effectively impossible. So without wishing to be too Grinch-y about it, here are a few reasons why rather than preparing its announcement that it's full steam ahead for 17 April, JCR is more likely to be preparing to let everyone down gently.
© Photograph: Islandstock/Alamy Stock PhotoInside a betting shop on Grand National day.
First up, everything in Monday's "road map" is "at the earliest". There is no guarantee that betting shops will re-open on 12 April, so the additional costs involved in staging a standalone National - and there would be plenty - would be pointless.
Next, if shops are open and a public sense of an easing lockdown is everywhere, will it be possible to stop hundreds, and quite possibly thousands, of people heading for Aintree to try to get a glimpse of the action? It took several miles of fencing and hundreds of security staff to successfully stage a Covid-safe Derby last July, in a commuter town in Surrey. Aintree, a vast open space in the middle of one of our biggest cities, is going to be a very different challenge in terms of keeping people away as it is.
Three, the TV rights. About 30 different global broadcasters showed the race live in 2019 according to Racecourse Media Group, and this year they have paid for a race on 10 April. It's entirely possible their contracts include a clause to cover a sudden switch, but who knows? Even the BHA doesn't get to see the tracks' media rights deals.
Finally - and this, for me, would be the biggest concern - can the bookmakers truly guarantee a Covid-safe environment for punters on what is always the biggest day of the year in betting shops, at a relatively early stage of the nation's recovery from the pandemic?
If the rules are no more than two customers in a shop at a time, and most are going to spend several minutes reminding themselves what an each-way bet means, the potential for huge lines of punters stretching down high streets or, worse, shops that get over-run with frustrated customers, is clear.
So it might happen, and it might be a success. The National was re-staged two days later after the bomb scare in 1997, after all. But do not be too surprised, or disappointed, if it does not.
. Wednesday's best bets to follow shortly .