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Local health officials have told Doncaster Racecourse to stop spectators attending its St Leger meeting after Wednesday’s opening day.
“For reasons of public health and public safety, I have instructed the course to hold the St Leger Festival behind closed doors starting tomorrow,” said Dr. Rupert Suckling, Doncaster Director of Public Health.
More than 2,500 spectators are expected in Doncaster on Wednesday when Leger’s meeting kicks off amid uncertainty over new government rules.
It is the first crowd at a British horse racing event in six months as part of a government pilot scheme for sporting events.
Arena Racing Company (Arc), which runs Doncaster Racecourse, confirmed that the remainder of the four-day meeting will be held without spectators.
“This pilot event represents a very important step not only for our business, but for British racing as a whole, as well as for the sports and hospitality industries as a whole.” said Mark Spincer, managing director of Arena’s racing division.
“Of course, we fully understand and respect the decision and will contact all of our reserved clients for the remaining three days as a matter of urgency.”
The government said late Tuesday that social gatherings in England would be cut from a maximum of 30 to six people starting Monday in response to the growing number of coronavirus cases.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said more details will be released on Wednesday.
“The prime minister will lay out more details on the consequences of the new rules for six people meeting today. We will establish what this means for some of these events that we were planning to do,” he told BBC Breakfast.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to expand on the new rules at a Downing Street press conference at 16:00 BST, where he will be joined by Professor Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser. from United Kingdom. .
The city’s mayor, Ros Jones, had said the risk of holding the event with crowds was “too great” and welcomed the reversal.
“I think holding the St Leger Festival behind closed doors is the right thing to do for the safety of the township, given the latest change in government council overnight and rising infection rates both in Doncaster and across the country. national, “said the mayor.
“I welcome this decision and, as I have always said, the stakes were too great for Doncaster.”
The races have been held behind closed doors since they resumed on June 1 after a 10-week suspension due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Up to 3,640 people will be allowed in on Wednesday, and the racetrack says more than 2,500 tickets have been sold. A limit of 6,202 was planned on the other days, including Saturday when the Leger, the oldest classic race in the world, takes place.
Viewers had to subscribe to a code of conduct and have been divided into specific zones, with established social distancing protocols.
More than 54,000 viewers attended the four-day gathering last year, including 27,000 on Saturday.
Attending the 5,000-strong trial was supposed to take place on the fifth and final day of Glorious Goodwood last month, but that was scrapped at the last minute after a spike in coronavirus cases in parts of Britain.
