Cheltenham Festival organisers stand by decision to hold 2020 meet

The annual event attracts people from all over the country and beyond

The British Horseracing Authority has said it stands by its decision to hold the Cheltenham Festival last year.

About 150,000 people attended the four-day March meeting, which ended 10 days before Covid lockdown measures began.

Some experts say it 'may have accelerated' the spread of the virus.

Julie Harrington, CEO of the British Horseracing Authority, said: "All we could do was act on the advice that we had at the time, and I am really comfortable that we did that.

"Everything is easy in hindsight."

Ms Harrington admitted that looking back at pictures of the "huge crowds" it is "quite shocking", but she said more is known about the risks the virus poses compared to a year ago, and that the government said it was appropriate for the Festival to go ahead.

About 150,000 people attended the annual four-day festival in March last year

Although 250,000 tickets were sold for last year's festival, about 100,000 fewer people attended with many going for multiple days.

There have since been calls for an investigation into whether it should have been held, sparked by concerns it may have led to a high number of local coronavirus cases.

Professor Gabriel Scally, former regional director of public health for the South West, said: "There were plenty of people who were saying at the time mass gatherings were potentially lethal spreading events.

"The government should have intervened and the advice that the government was basing its non-intervention in mass gatherings on was wrong."

'Strange' with no crowds

The comments come as this year's Festival is held behind closed doors.

Normally about 60,000 people would attend the first day of racing, with about 250,000 expected to attend over its four days.

But this year, even horse owners are unable to attend because of coronavirus restrictions.

Typically tens of thousands of spectators attend each day of the Cheltenham Festival but this year there are none

The Jockey Club, which runs the festival, says it made a £90m loss last year and that it will make a loss from holding this week's festival too.

Ian Renton, Cheltenham Racecourse's director, said it is hard to calculate what the full financial impact will be.

"As we know these four days bring in a huge amount locally and that is going to be entirely absent sadly," he said.

Typically, the racecourse is transformed with 40,000 sq m (131,234 sq ft) of temporary facilities built and has 3,500 staff working on site. This year it only has about 40 staff.

Mr Renton said organisers had always been confident that racing can take place behind closed doors

Jockey Harry Cobden said it is "strange" not having crowds for the "pinnacle of the whole calendar season", but added that "some horses probably appreciate no crowds" due to the noise.

Some businesses across Cheltenham are looking to make the best out of the festival, despite the town's economy suffering a hit of an estimated £60m.

Mark Gray from The Suffolk Arms in the town is offering a "pub experience in a box", with food and drink along with a fragrance to "put people in the mood".

He said the special "L'Eau de Pub" contains the essence of "coffee, wine, gravy, stock and obviously beer".

"We could have sat on our hands and let it defeat us but we've decided that utilising different ways of delivering our product is definitely the way to do things," Mr Gray said.