IN January, just a problem in faraway China, in February, the Covid-19 pandemic suddenly arrived in full force and by mid-March the country was in lockdown, with all public events, including racing, cancelled.

However, Germany seemed to tackle the problem better than other countries and it was the first major nation to resume racing in early May. Clearly this could only happen under strict conditions, and racegoers were in effect banned from going racing for the whole year.

Deutscher Galopp, the umbrella organisation which oversees the whole racing and breeding industry, was able to organise a livestreaming service, which has covered every German race since May and was very professionally handled and easily available (and free!) so that all those interested could follow what was going on.

The situation improved in the summer and a small number of spectators were allowed on track (notably on October 3rd, a major public holiday, when 3,900 racegoers were able to watch live the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Berlin at Hoppegarten).

The dreaded “second wave” arrived in the autumn, and at the time of writing, we are all experiencing lockdown, which is almost certainly going to become much more severe after Christmas and probably extend well into the New Year.

Almost everybody suffered as a result, and prize money (already relatively weak in Germany compared to other European countries) was slashed by half for most races; even at prestigious meetings like Baden-Baden’s “Grosse Woche” Group 3 races were being run with €16,000 to the winner.

Baden-Baden in fact, where the Iffezheim racecourse would normally attract a minimum of 10,000 paying racegoers every day, was one of the chief sufferers.

It is estimated that they missed out on €750,000 in gate money alone plus catering and other income, not to mention the loss of sponsors and also their share of the tote profits at what are normally the biggest betting meetings of the year.

The racecourse has in any case been running at a loss for years; Baden Racing, who manage the track, has to a certain extent been subsidised this year by Deutscher Galopp, the sales company BBAG (whose sales ring is just down the road) and the German Owners’ and Breeders’ Association, but the two main shareholders in Baden Racing, Dr. Andreas Jacobs and Paul von Schubert, have made it clear that they are no longer prepared to throw good money after bad.

Future unclear

The future of this beautiful racecourse on the edge of the Black Forest remains unclear, although it is almost unthinkable that the track will have to close.

In previous years there were 14 days racing here, in 2020 there were only eight, and if a new grouping can be found to run things, it is still likely that it will only be in a slimmed-down form.

Deutscher Galopp itself has seen its income sharply reduced and as a result most of the employees are either on short time or have been made redundant.

They have applied for government help, but help so far has only been received by the five racecourses in the state of North-Rhine-Westphalia (Cologne, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Krefeld and Mülheim), plus trotting tracks in the state, who are all to get €320,000 in “corona aid” from the NRW state coffers.

However, racecourses in other areas have so far received no help at all from local authorities, themselves of course also strapped for cash.

That was the negative side of 2020, but ironically on the positive side, it has been one of the most successful years in memory for German racing and breeding.