Newmarket on course to host crowds at next week’s Cambridgeshire meeting
PLANS for a limited-capacity pilot event over three days at Newmarket next week remain on track.
Racing has so far been frustrated in its efforts to get racegoers back on course.
A planned test event at Glorious Goodwood was scrapped at the 11th hour with a similar fate for Doncaster’s planned four-day pilot, which lasted just one day.
But the pilot pencilled in for the Cambridgeshire meeting on September 24-26 is still in place, following discussions with local public authorities and the course’s safety advisory group.
The 1,000-person Newmarket pilot is part of a series of trials across a range of different sports that have been approved by the Department of Culture, Media & Sport and will take place with strict protocols in place.
Newmarket chief Amy Starkey said: “We’re pleased to be working closely with local authorities to stage a limited spectator trial at the Rowley Mile over the course of the Cambridgeshire meeting.
“The racecourse is a vast, predominantly outdoor environment that could safely space out several thousand people, not just the maximum 1,000 who will be in attendance with stringent health and safety measures in place.
“The Newmarket trial will provide important insights we can share across our industry and with other sports, so that when it is possible to welcome some level of spectators back to events more regularly in the future we are well equipped to do so.”
Warwick’s planned spectator trial on Monday afternoon is also still going ahead at present.