JAMES TATE believes Newmarket is the ideal location for racing to take place behind closed doors — if and when the British Horseracing Authority is able to resume the fixture list.

The Newmarket trainer is confident meetings could be staged on the Rowley Mile under a phased return which would reflect any easing of the Covid-19 measures currently in place.

Prospects of racing — which has been placed on lockdown by the BHA until the end of April at least — were given a glimmer of hope on Friday after a letter issued to stakeholders by the Resumption of Racing Group suggested work was being carried out so the sport could start up again on May 1.

Although not confirmed, one idea mooted has been the introduction of a number of regional racing centres — of which Newmarket might be one.

Tate said: “I would be behind racing returning to Newmarket — because with everything applied, it would be a sensible place to have a meeting before anywhere else.

“You could run a meeting with Newmarket-based trainers and only use professional jockeys — and that could just be Newmarket-based ones, because nobody would have to travel far or stay over either.”