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.