Bookies told low crowd estimate reason for closed areas at Doncaster on Saturday

Growing concerns about the number of spectators attending the races in Britain have been further highlighted after bookmakers planning on working at Doncaster on Saturday were warned areas of the track would be closed “due to the low crowd estimate” for the fixture.

The warning comes as the most up-to-date BHA data, covering the period between January 1 and April 24, shows the lowest attendance levels at British racecourses since records began in 1995, excluding 2020 and 2021 when crowds were impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Doncaster’s evening fixture is followed by a performance from nineties Britpop band Shed Seven, with the racecourse outlining on its website tickets should be purchased early “to guarantee entry as we are expecting huge sales for this massive band!”.

While tickets have sold out for the exclusive Premier Enclosure, admission remains available for the other enclosures, with bookmakers informed by the Administration of Gambling on Tracks (AGT) that the Champagne Lawn in front of the hotel at Doncaster would not be open for business because of the predicted crowd size.

An AGT statement sent to bookmakers said: “An estimated crowd of 3,500 is expected with live performance from Shed Seven after racing. Due to the low crowd estimate no positions will be available on the Champagne Lawn.”

The message was posted online by bookmaker Andy Geraghty along with a caption reading 'Oh dear', and the on-course layer said the field sizes and prices being charged by Doncaster’s owner Arena Racing (Arc) were contributing to the malaise.

Geraghty said: “We have pitch seven in Tatts there and I was talking to my brother on the way up to York today and we were discussing whether it was worth bothering going at all. The last two Saturday meetings there they’ve had no runners whatsoever.

“From our point of view it’s expensive to go racing in the first place so we need a decent crowd to make it work. Over the year, we’d keep on average ten per cent of what we take, so if you’re going there and there’s no crowd then you’re already second favourite to win. It’s disappointing really and Arc are charging too much to get in.

“All they have done is put six extra pitches on the Champagne Lawn if bookmakers want to go there but the racecourse must not be expecting to even open the bars up down there – it's something that’s happened before with meetings when there have been bands on. They’ve got the Kaiser Chiefs and Paloma Faith playing this year too and maybe there’s too many bands on?”

A spokesman for Arc said the racecourse group disputed the estimated crowd number supplied to bookmakers by the AGT and said that officials expected the attendance to be “well above that figure” and that it was “fairly common” for the Champagne Lawn not to have bookmakers.

Attendance figures at British racecourses have increasingly come under pressure, with meetings such as the Lincoln at Doncaster, Sandown’s jumps final fixture, the Craven meeting at Newmarket and Chester’s flagship May festival all reporting significant dips in spectators.

All bar six meetings between January 1 and April 24 have returned their attendance figures for this year, with the average crowd of 2,696 down 12 per cent on 2019’s figure of 3,015 for the same period.

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