Government confirmation that mass gatherings are cancelled until September means the Galway racing festival in July will take place behind closed doors if it is possible to do so.
Although Ireland’s racing authorities are hopeful of getting a green light to resume the sport behind closed doors at some point in the coming weeks, the Government’s decision to extend the ban on mass gatherings due to the Covid-19 pandemic is a significant blow.
The Government confirmed on Tuesday that events with crowd of more than 5,000 people will not be licensed up to the end of August at least.
Another major date likely to be affected by that ban extension is the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh in June.
"We haven't heard anything official, and I don't know what the details are, but it would mean that, at best, Galway being held closed doors," said Horse Racing Ireland's chief executive Brian Kavanagh.
“One of the reports I saw was that it [the ban] would go into September which would be Listowel, Irish Champions Weekend and other Curragh fixtures,” he added.
The seven-day Galway festival is one of the best attended dates of the year in Ireland with almost 130,000 in attendance at last year’s 150th anniversary meeting.
It is due to begin this summer on July 28th but hopes have been dashed for a relaxation in restrictions that might allow crowds return for the centrepiece of the summer racing season.
A statement from the Galway executive said: “In light of the evolving situation regarding Covid-19, for public health and safety reasons, the Galway race committee has reached the difficult but unavoidable decision that the 2020 Galway races summer festival, due to be held from Monday, July 27 to Sunday, August 2 will not be able to take place as an event open to the general public this year.
"It may prove possible to run the Galway races behind closed doors, dependant on government policy and the approval of Horse Racing Ireland and the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board.
“This would be for the benefit of the racing industry, our valued partners and our television audiences at home and internationally. We are currently planning for this scenario and we will update on progress as and when we can.”
It also said there is a full refund policy for anyone who has bought admission tickets for the festival and added that the executive’s thoughts are with all those affected as a result of coronavirus.
The Derby, which is currently scheduled for June 27th, last year had an official attendance of almost 12,000. Champions Weekend in 2019, which covered two days at Leopardstown and the Curragh, had a combined attendance of 23,508.
“Our position to the Government is we are ‘racing ready’ to move behind closed doors when they say it is safe and appropriate. And that we will continue behind closed doors until their policy on mass gatherings has changed,” Kavanagh said.
Although a resumption of racing behind closed doors is expected to come at some point, the longer there is a delay in that happening increases the likelihood of meetings being pushed back later in the year in any revamped fixture programme.
The organisation that represents Ireland’s 26 racecourses said the Government’s move wasn’t a huge shock.
Paddy Walsh, chief executive of the Association of Irish Racecourses, said on Tuesday evening: “It’s a little bit of a surprise but not entirely unexpected.
“It doesn’t help us but in latter days we were coming to the conclusion that, based on what we were hearing, while we might get back behind closed doors, getting back to let’s call it normal racing, was going to take a lot longer than we might have initially thought.”
Racing stopped in Ireland on March 24th and racetracks have been left with no income since then, including losing out on media rights and attendance money.
A likely return of racing behind closed doors will result in media rights being generated but other revenue streams would still be an issue.
“The longer it goes on, the more financial pressure everyone is under. We’re doing some scenario planning at the moment, crunching the numbers, to see how it looks.
“We’re looking at various periods where we might be operating behind closed doors but we haven’t completed them,” Walsh said.
Asked if the latest development could see the future of some tracks come under threat, he said: “I don’t have any definitive answer on that. But the longer it goes on, the harder it is from everyone’s point of view.
“Who knows, they might come back and say it is another three months. There’s so much uncertainty about the place that it’s very difficult to be certain about anything.”
