When the initial period of the lockdown is over, many restrictions will remain in place but to give hope to people there must be some signs of a return to normality, even if a full return may be as much as six months away.

In Britain, there is talk of a return to horse racing, in an abbreviated form, on May 1, and the British Horseracing Authority is working towards that, even if it may seem unrealistic. There may be more hurdles to cross outside of the sport before the British government is happy to let such plans come to fruition, but the BHA is doing the right thing in planning for a return as soon as possible.

With obvious exceptions, most notably the Derby, the days when greyhound racing meetings are sources of mass gatherings have sadly passed, but it doesn’t mean the sport cannot remain an important part of rural Ireland. Part of that which has been done to put the sport to the fore of SIS’s schedule is to secure a future which is not dependent upon full stadia.

While the details of the contract have not been disclosed, it has been somewhat successful, though one could argue that the continued closure of tracks makes that a contradiction.

But moving ahead, as we have to, every adversity must be turned into an opportunity and greyhound racing must place itself to the front of the queue when it comes to the return of sport.

It seems inevitable that the government will employ a softly, softly reintroduction to ensure there is not another wave of coronavirus and, having already run successfully behind closed doors, greyhound racing and horse racing are prime candidates to lead the way back.

Joseph O’Brien, talking to RacingTV’s On The Wire podcast, suggested a four-week training programme would be the minimum required for horses to be ready to race again. It is not as drawn out in greyhound racing, but what we most certainly do not need is a quick return to cause a welfare issue.

Talking to the Irish Examiner earlier this week, greyhound trainer and breeder Liam Dowling asked that tracks be reopened for trialling sooner rather than later and, for many reasons, that makes perfect sense. The Irish Greyhound Board needs to be pleading its case to be able to reopen its tracks, initially for trials and quite quickly thereafter for racing behind closed doors, as soon as the travel restrictions currently in place are lifted.

It makes sense to hit the ground running. The sport has been allowed fall behind almost all others in recent years, so this should be used as a time to unashamedly advertise all that is good about greyhound racing.

On Tuesday, Attheraces announced the launch of a new greyhound racing service, which would be offering nightly racecards from Australia and the Unites States and it added that it would ‘include racing from the UK when it resumes and will ultimately develop into a dedicated hub for the sport, offering results, form, tips and video content’.

For one brief moment, prior to the stern lockdown in Ireland, RPGTV was willing to take Irish greyhound racing, betting firms were willing to price up graded races from any available track, and the exchanges felt it worthwhile to open markets. These are possibilities we must build upon.

It being an ill wind that blows no one any good, it’s time for greyhound racing in Ireland to sell itself right now, to be ahead of the curve in a time when its value is being appreciated more than it has for a considerable period. Such opportunity won’t present itself for ever.