Horse racing: Matt McCudden confident racing can continue with current measures for COVID-19

And he has rarely experienced first-hand the current challenges being faced worldwide due to COVID-19, but the show continues on.

While still new to the training side of the industry, McCudden has vivid memories of the last time something similar almost took out the sport.

The Equine Influenza in 2008 is part of the reason why he believes horse racing can continue; they learned from that challenge and came out the other side stronger.

"When you walked into the stables we had buckets of disinfectant you'd have to stand in and put your hands in," he recalled.

"You couldn't race outside your area and you only had the jockeys in your area to race which is probably a bit more extreme than where we're at at the moment.

"Whether we get to that level with this yet we don't know.

"We got through EI and still held horse races so hopefully we can still find a way to get through this with similar sorts of measures."

McCudden was in and around the stables occasionally as a stable hand during EI, before he moved up the ranks and became a full-time trainer almost two years ago.

He admitted "not a whole lot" has changed through his progression and what is expected although now he can't just knock off and go home

"The workload has increased a bit and just more responsibility is the main difference," he said.

"Instead of being told what to do you're the one giving orders and instead of looking after horses and knocking off and going home, it's 24 hours a day you've got owners to answer to.

"A lot of people don't think about the book work and office side of things, but as far as what I do of a morning and afternoon, it's all similar when I was 15 to now I'm 24."

Social distancing and self-isolation regulations mean the Easter long weekend will have a different look at the McCudden residence.

"As a family we always have a big Good Friday and I joked to mum that we'll all have to line up at the gate and one person can come in at a time and grab something to eat," he said.

"We'd have to stand up and down the street on the driveway, but if that's the worst thing you're worried about at the moment we can't be complaining too much."

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