Full crowds could return to Irish tracks in October as reopening plan set out

He revealed that clarity will be provided on Wednesday as to what attendance figures can be expected for Irish Champions Weekend, which takes place on September 11 and 12, and Listowel, which begins later this month.

Brian Kavanagh: needs to determine what new rules will allow as regards crowd capacity for the upcoming big meetingsCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

From Monday, September 6, large outdoor sports stadiums and venues will be able to host 75 per cent of their full capacity if they are only admitting vaccinated or Covid-recovered fans. Outdoor venues allowing a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated supporters can operate at 50 per cent.

It will be up to the sports ruling bodies to decide on whether they accept mixed or fully vaccinated crowds. However, given racegoers require access to indoor facilities, Kavanagh explained that it was too early to put an exact number on the attendances expected for ICW and Listowel.

Kavanagh said: "We welcome this positive news and look forward to easing restrictions at race meetings. Obviously we will need to study the details of this announcement – in terms of indoor and outdoor – and we will do that and regroup.

"We will be in a better position as to how we move forward on Wednesday but this is clearly welcome news and will be a great relief for everyone, not least the people at Leopardstown, the Curragh and Listowel, with those major festivals just over the horizon."

He added: "This news also means that people can plan towards the future and adjust budgets for next year which is also hugely positive. There will be a general loosening of restrictions – up to 50 per cent of capacity in certain cases will be permitted at events – but we need to just clarify what that means for food, beverage and catering along with indoor dining. The general restrictions will be removed by the middle of October, which is only six weeks away, so there really is light at the end of the tunnel now, which is great."

Irish racing has been operating under strict guidelines for the past 18 months and the number of paying customers remains at just 500 people.

While Kavanagh was not in a position to reveal an expected attendance figure or whether HRI would opt to welcome a vaccinated group of fans which would therefore lead to a greater number of people allowed on the track, he outlined what will be discussed in the next 24 hours.

Kavanagh said: "We need to understand the breakdown between indoor and outdoor. In order to get to a particular number, it would be impossible to do so without having access to indoor facilities, so if we go for a certain number of people at the track, we can't just stand them outside with no access to facilities, no toilets, no bars and no restaurants. That's what we need to discuss."

He added: "It's brilliant news. It reflects very well on the work that everyone has done over the past 18 months to keep racing going in a restricted format. Our priority now is to get people back on the racetrack and we will see a huge difference at race meetings going forward."

Leopardstown boss Tim Husbands echoed Kavanagh's sentiments by labelling the announcement as "great news for racing", and revealed everyone at the racecourse was ready to roll up their sleeves ahead of what promises to be an important new chapter in Irish racing.

Husbands said: "It will be a significant increase from the 500 people that we currently have and that is most welcome. For Irish Champions Weekend, such a prestigious event, I think it's only right and proper that Irish racegoers are welcomed back. It's great news for racing."

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