Leopardstown primed for increased crowds if restrictions ease in time for DRF

Leopardstown chief executive Tim Husbands is confident the track is well prepared to make the most of an expected easing of Covid-19 restrictions in Ireland, as anticipation grows surrounding the prospect of an unrestricted crowd at next month's Dublin Racing Festival.

Officials have been working on the basis of a cap of 5,000 spectators for each day of the two-day fixture, and Husbands confirmed last week the track had stopped selling tickets after effectively selling out at current capacity levels.

However, minister of state for gaeltacht affairs and sport Jack Chambers has made encouraging noises in recent days on the potential for attendance limits at sporting events to be scrapped imminently.

Dublin Racing Festival crowds: Faugheen returned to a rapturous reception after winning at the 2020 meetingCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

In a Newstalk radio interview on Wednesday, the Fianna Fail TD outlined his optimism for an unrestricted crowd at Ireland's Six Nations rugby opener at the Aviva Stadium against Wales on February 5 – the same day the Dublin Racing Festival gets under way.

A meeting of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) will take place on Thursday before the Irish government is expected to make an announcement on Friday.

When pressed on whether he is hopeful of a full-capacity crowd at the Dublin Racing Festival, considering the somewhat different dynamic of a race meeting compared to a stadium event, Chambers said: "The outdoor rules on stadia will apply to racing in the same way as they would to other sporting events.

"Then there would be equality of treatment around hospitality, so any changes that would occur around hospitality will be mirrored within the stadia or other events that might happen."

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An increase in capacity limits for the Dublin Racing Festival, which saw a record crowd of 26,474 in 2020, would come as a major boost to the track considering its popular Christmas festival took place behind closed doors last month.

A combination of staffing issues, arising after a spate of Covid-19 cases, and concern over the overall public health scenario were cited as reasons for the 11th-hour decision.

Husbands told the Racing Post on Wednesday: "We have planned for most eventualities so any increase would be more than welcome and we'd be really excited to get more people back on the track. All the preparations have been made.

Leopardstown highlight: full grandstands at the 2019 Dublin Racing FestivalCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

"We're in a different place to where the country and racecourse was before Christmas. All our third-party suppliers and ourselves have sufficient staff available.

"A month ago we were all mid-Omicron, people were out of action as close contacts or having caught the virus, but we're not in that position so are very optimistic."

Husbands added of the seemingly strong demand for tickets from an early stage: "I think one of the factors is the situation with Christmas, in that we were due to have a very high turnout there and people just moved on to the Dublin Racing Festival. That's another reason why we'd love to get a few more people in.

"The level of infections, particularly in south Dublin, was very high around Christmas and those increased massively in terms of the percentages involved day on day. Combined with the amount of staff that we lost over the two to three days before Christmas, there was no alternative [but to go behind closed doors]."

Dublin Racing Festival: big-race entries

The anticipated easing of restrictions on sporting events appears likely to come too soon for Gowran Park's feature Thyestes Chase fixture on Thursday week, a meeting that typically hosts around 9,000 spectators.

Gowran Park: likely to have restricted crowd of 4,500 for marquee fixture next weekCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

However, racecourse manager Eddie Scally says his track will be able to adapt if getting the green light to lift attendances over the coming days.

"We've restricted our attendance to 4,500 on the basis of the government's protocols," said Scally.

"We're close to being sold out and expect our tickets to have gone by Tuesday at the latest. If the government restrictions ease, we will allow cash admissions on the gate or release tickets back online again, but if not we'll keep it as an all-ticket, sold-out event."

He added: "It's obviously a more positive situation than last year when we had nobody here. If restrictions were lifted at short notice it mightn't be the easiest thing to get the required staff for greater numbers, but we've been staffing ourselves at 20 per cent more than we need. Realistically, I think we'll be just allowed the 4,500."

Scally revealed last month that Gowran's corporate hospitality for the marquee meeting had been sold out three years in advance, forcing a reshuffle given the most recent Covid-19 restrictions.

Scally, also manager at Wexford, explained: "We initially spoke to all our corporate clients and asked them to reduce their table sizes from ten to six, which was a help.

"Roughly 40 per cent of our attendance naturally decided against attending given the Covid scenario, so it almost balanced itself out."

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