Tomorrow the Cheltenham Festival-that's 4 days of horse racing- will go ahead. Many horses and stable staff will come from Ireland and NI. It's the event of the year for them. Between them there are 16 confirmed cases with one,in NI,I think, being community-based..ie no known contact with anyone who has come from any of the affected regions in the world. Last year 260,000 attended..including overseas visitors. It's one thing to cancel a football match with mainly indigenous spectators attending, quite another to have an event with such a huge attendance and racing enthusiasts coming from all over the world. I think this is a fair comparison with football etc and these races. At football matches you go and maybe a small number,relatively-speaking ,will get a hot drink and a pie at half-time . With racing it's ongoing all day and there are a number of bars and refreshment stalls and huge dining areas. The bookies are handling bank notes taking them off punters and handing them out. I heard that the virus can be transmitted on a bank note. Management are installing more toilet facilities and having hand-gel about the place .Infact they're having staff on hand at the toilets to ensure there is no lack of gel/soap/ etc. I can well imagine people using the loos and can't be faffed waiting for a sink to become free. The management ask that no-one with any coughs/colds or virus-like symptons attend. Trouble is there's the incubation period and apart from that the medical people don't know the full natureof this virus. The one aspect causing problems is when someone who has had no contact,as far as they know,with anyone from a region with the virus rampant, succumbs to it.That's difficult because a victim could contract it from someone they've had close contact with who had contact with someone else who had been abroad .
The lostb revenue, should it be cancelled, is enourmous. It's not just the revenue at the course but the local economy. Hotels, buses..many come by train,retailers..more that I've probably overlooked. WEell, flights from Ireland..Ryan Air. for instance. Call me a cynic but I think this aspect has won the day with government. I think that next week when more cases have been confirmed the government will not allow such large events to go ahead...just let this massive revenue-raising event go ahead, then a clamp down.
How much would a cancellation cost the industry ? Race Course management won't sa but in the link below it shows that the betting industry alone would lose £100 million.There's a section on this at the end of the article entitled ''How much would it cost the industry ? So..not only has HMG had the race course management bending it's ear but the powerful betting industry. I just think it's a stich up and who will pay the real price ? A doctor (lecturer) at Essex Uni has advised over 60's and people with heart or chest complaints or any other at-risk group to stay away.
https://www.racingpost.com/news/cor...ll-the-cheltenham-festival-be-affected/425227
To give an idea of the scale of this event here's a list.
https://www.thejockeyclub.co.uk/che.../about-the-event/key-facts-stats-and-figures/