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26
Sept 2020
Last Updated: 25/09/2020
Final race of season at Ripon Racecourse
The British Horseracing Association has warned that the season without racegoers has seriously threatened the industry. Horseracing is the second most attended spectator sport in the UK, but lockdown and meetings held behind closed doors, has meant lost revenue for Ripon.
For racegoers, the 2020 season at Ripon has been a non-starter, with the action on course staged behind closed doors.
Today the lockdown season comes to a close with a seven-race card.
The COVID-19 pandemic shut down horseracing across the UK in March - a month before the course was due to hold its first meeting of the season.
When a curtailed calendar finally got underway on the evening of 20 June it, and all subsequent meetings, had to be held without racegoers present.
Before the coronavirus crisis dealt the horseracing industry a giant blow, Ripon's garden course, in its 120th year at the Boroughbridge Road venue, was looking forward to a 17-meeting season.
In a normal year, the track attracts thousands of people through its gates - both local and from further afield - with the highlight of its calendar being the Great St Wilfrid Handicap in August.
As the season concludes with the 17.40 Lloyd Land Rover Ripon Apprentice Handicap, the public's return to sporting events remains delayed, following announcements by the government.
The British Horseracing Authority (BHA), in a statement earlier this week, said that racecourses across the UK are facing a loss in revenue of between £250 million and £300 million this year, adding:
"Our industry is now facing a severe threat. We are the second most attended spectator sport in the country. Without the millions of people who normally enjoy a day at the races, many people’s jobs are at serious risk, as are the businesses they work in.
"We have kept the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments updated on the financial impact of COVID and the effects on the rural economies in which so many of our racing staff live and work."
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Before the first behind-closed-doors meeting in June, clerk of the course and managing director of Ripon Racecourse Company, James Hutchinson told the Stray Ferret:
“There’s no point in looking back at what didn’t happen, we’d rather look forward and hope that it won’t be long before we can open our gates to racegoers once more.”
With the next season seven months away, all involved with running the course, are hoping the roar of the Ripon crowd will be heard yet again in 2021.
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