Racecourses welcome back spectators for first time in eight months
- Published
Racing in Britain has been taking place without spectators since March
Racecourses welcomed spectators for the first time in more than eight months on Wednesday as the coronavirus lockdown in England was lifted.
Four tracks - Haydock, Kempton, Lingfield and Ludlow - had limited crowds at their meetings.
The courses are in tier two areas, which allow for crowds up to 2,000, although attendances were in the hundreds on the first day back.
Racing is Britain's second biggest spectator sport behind football.
Action was suspended for 10 weeks before restarting behind closed doors in June.
Two pilot events - at Doncaster and Warwick - were held with spectators before changes to regulations halted further trials.
"It has been slightly soulless, but it has been fantastic that racing kept going at all, even if it has been under weird circumstances," said champion jumps trainer Nicky Henderson, who had runners at Haydock and Ludlow.
"It's been good, but a bit lonely. I think there were 42 people at Cheltenham the other week, but they did it really well and everything has gone well. It will just be nice to see a few different faces - you miss seeing people."
A crowd of up to 1,000 - which includes racehorse owners, annual members and general admission ticket holders - gathered at Haydock.
Racegoers must wear face coverings, sign up to a code of conduct and observe Covid-19 protocols.
Nevin Truesdale, acting group chief executive of the Jockey Club which runs Haydock and Kempton, said: "Racing fans have been incredibly patient. Since the restricted number of tickets went on sale, we've seen a really positive response."
The 1,000 general admission tickets for Sandown's Tingle Creek Chase fixture on Saturday were snapped up within 17 minutes, and Aintree's weekend meeting is also sold out.
On Wednesday, Ludlow limited their numbers to about 650 while there were attendances in the hundreds at Kempton and Lingfield.