By Emma Berry
The German racing authority Deutscher Galopp has released a revised racing programme for the sport to begin behind closed doors from Friday, May 1 at Hannover. At present the dates have been announced for one race meeting each day to June 15, and they include the first German Classics, the G2 Mehl Mulhens-Rennen (2000 Guineas), which will be run at Cologne on Monday, June 1, followed by the G2 German 1000 Guineas at Dusseldorf on Sunday, June 7, the same day as the Listed Derby Trial.
During that period racing will be run behind closed doors, a move referred to in the announcement on the Deutscher Galopp website as one of the “painful reductions necessary in order to alleviate the substantial loss of revenue for the organisers and to enable the racesto take place in the first place.” Dr Michael Vesper, president of Deutscher Galopp, said, “We are responding to the corona crisis, which hasstopped racing since mid-March, taking into account all necessary contact restrictions and requirements. We are in the starting stalls in order to start our races again in a restricted manner and without endangering spectators and racing participants.”
