IT was a strange kind of welcome back party.

Following a 55-day absence, racing returned to France at ParisLongchamp in Paris on Monday and fireworks could have been expected – numerous top quality horses shared the spotlight and, with all other forms of entertainment still locked down, it was the only show in town as the country emerged from its virus-ravaged hibernation.

Yet, with public attendance barred, the atmosphere was almost eerie, the gathering restricted to just officials and participants, all carefully obeying social distancing regulations. Everyone was delighted to be back at work but there was little sense of celebration.

The chilly and breezy weather didn’t help. The summer dresses and panama hats usually sported in mid-May were distinctly lacking, and the fashion accessory ‘du jour’ was face masks, even for the jockeys – Christophe Soumillon’s balaclava-style black lycra number gave him the air of an elite army operative.

It seems this rather soulless, crowd-less scene will be the blueprint for racing Europe-wide for a number of months to come and, rather than moan about it, we should be giving thanks that, unlike many other sports, ours can be staged perfectly well under such conditions without losing any of its integrity or competitiveness.

Unawares

Just getting the wagon back rolling was no small achievement in itself. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, was caught unawares by the planned resumption of racing, perhaps because, unlike football and rugby, it falls under the governance of the Ministry Of Agriculture.

When alerted to the May 11th restart date a mere 72 hours before it was due to take place, his initial response was a firm ‘non’.

During a frantic Friday of negotiations, France Galop boss Edouard de Rothschild pulled out all the stops, enlisting the help of various close presidential associates, to change Macron’s mind and convince him of the scientific and economic arguments in racing’s favour.

While this political storm broke, so did a meteorological one above the French capital on Saturday night, dumping 70 millimetres of rain on Longchamp’s verdant pastures.

Re-opening day was always going to be a hard one to predict, given that many of the key contributors had not raced for seven months, now their ability to handle a testing surface was also thrown into the equation alongside any queries about fitness.