'Six-figure hit' for Nottingham as racing returns after ten-month absence

Nottingham said it had taken a 'six-figure hit' after going more than ten months without a race meeting.

The course only returned to action on Sunday, for the first time since November 6, after being one of three owned by the Jockey Club, along with Carlisle and Epsom bar Derby day, that closed during the summer.

The majority of Nottingham’s staff remained on furlough through the summer, with some returning on a staggered basis recently as racing resumed with an eight-race card transferred from Epsom, the first of six at the track this season, down from the scheduled 23.

James Knox, general manager at Nottingham, said: “It’s been a long time coming and we’re delighted to be back racing. Ultimately, it boiled down to finances and the Jockey Club are very lucky to have racecourses in the group that can take the additional fixtures, so it made sense to transfer fixtures and look to open Nottingham back in the autumn as it was about saving as much as possible.

“The year wouldn’t be a write-off in terms of finances at Nottingham, but there’s been challenges and not having crowds does play its part.

"We’re quite lucky as a smaller track that not having crowds doesn’t have as much an impact as at bigger courses, and one of the biggest losses for us would be hosting no conference or hospitality events, which would be significant.

“Even with the cost savings we’ve put in place, we’d have certainly taken a six-figure hit this year.

“The lack of crowds is not just an issue for racing though and all sports, arts and leisure venues are going to be at risk. The Warwick pilot showed racing can absolutely host a crowd safely, so hopefully that puts us in a good place once we can look at crowds returning.”

Ludlow: 'Our media rights are crucial to our sustainability,' says general manager and clerk of the course Simon SherwoodCredit: Getty Images

Racing returns at the independently owned Ludlow on Wednesday week and general manager and clerk of the course Simon Sherwood believes media rights income will be crucial to the track.

Sherwood confirmed prize-money levels would drop due to the current climate but the Shropshire venue would continue to keep purses above minimum values.

Sherwood said: “The smaller tracks are probably not as badly infringed without crowds for six months. It will affect our sponsorship because sponsors are less interested when there’s no crowd and they can’t use it as a medium for hospitality.

“Our media rights are crucial to our sustainability. Our crowd capacity is important but not vital. We race a lot during January and February, often on pretty drab days, and realistically there’s not a huge paying public.

“We’ve always been able to maintain our prize-money levels and while they will drop because of this situation, we’re still going to be pitching ourselves above minimum values and trying to be as proactive as we can going forward.”

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