Joint Statement on Doncaster Pilot Event for return of spectators to horseracing

From the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), and Racecourse Association (RCA)

Racing industry leaders have been informed that Doncaster Council and the local Director of Public Health have decided that the St Leger Festival should continue without the public present for the three remaining days of the pilot event, once today’s racing has been completed.

The Director of Public Health for Doncaster, Dr Rupert Suckling, set out his reasons publicly earlier, and specifically highlighted a rise in the local infection rate of which he was made aware this morning. Doncaster Racecourse has worked closely with Dr Suckling and with Doncaster Council to ensure the health and safety of those attending and the local community were protected.

A range of measures are in place today which will ensure a safe pilot event for racegoers and local people. However, the industry accepts the decision taken by the Director of Public Health.

It is clear that the decision to cancel is not a consequence of any concerns about the measures taken by Doncaster or the racing industry’s plans to allow the public to return. Racing will continue to work with local public health officials as we strive to get the public back to racing when it is safe to do so.

The Racecourse Association has been leading racing’s work to bring back the public, working closely with Doncaster, Newmarket, Warwick and all those racecourses looking to welcome back the public as soon as possible. Like all those who work in racing, we are desperately disappointed for those who were hoping to attend the St Leger Festival. We are sorry too for all those colleagues at Doncaster who have worked so hard to make it possible for spectators to be present.

We will engage with public health authorities nationally and with DCMS to establish what the next steps will be regarding our remaining planned pilot events and also with regard to bringing back the public safely more broadly. Resuming public events is vital to sport and to the entertainment and hospitality industries. It will protect jobs and benefit the wider economy. In turn, it will put less of a burden on the taxpayers who are currently supporting people through the furlough scheme.
Any significant delay to the return of the public will be a hammer-blow for racecourses and the racing industry. More than half of racecourses’ income comes from spectators. In turn, this gap in revenues will reduce the amount of prize money available to participants and owners. This puts even greater pressure on our trainers, whose yards are the lifeblood of rural economies across the UK.

David Armstrong, Chief Executive of the Racecourse Association, the RCA, said;

“The RCA and all in racing will be very disappointed by today’s developments. We all know how important these pilots are to securing the return of crowds. The racecourse teams and the RCA have put in many hours of detailed work and planning to ensure the protocols are comprehensive and robust. As the second biggest spectator sport in the country, we pride ourselves on the quality of our sport and the entertainment it brings to so many. The health of the public and our own staff and participants is paramount, but the economic and financial pressure on the industry has already cost jobs and more will follow.

We will continue to work together as an industry, with national governments and with local authorities and the communities they represent to secure a safe return to public events.”