Pre-Covid racing action© Photo Healy Racing
24,000 at Croke Park on Saturday - 2,000 of them on the terraced Hill 16 - is the latest knock-back for horse racing.
Under current Covid restrictions only 500 people are permitted at a race meeting but 48 times as many people can watch GAA says all you need to know about Ireland’s response to the pandemic. One rule for some and another rule for the rest.
The so-called logic for bigger crowds at stadiums compared to other outdoor sporting venues is that the seating facilitates social distancing. This is of course bull. But then again almost everything to do with the regulations surrounding Covid is bull.
2,000 people can stand on the terraces of Hill 16 but only 500 on the terraces and throughout the entire enclosures at racecourses.
It’s not just sport where you’ll find this bull. I brought my car to a NCT test centre last week and under Covid protocols everyone must stand outside while their vehicle is being tested. Outside that is until it starts raining, then everyone is ushered inside.
Horse racing is not immune to this bull either. The latest Covid protocols for those attending race meetings instruct that masks must be worn at all times in the parade ring but these masks can be dispensed with outside the parade ring. One outdoor space separated by a railing and we have two different rules. This is about optics rather than anything to do with the safety of the people.
Every business and institution within the state is now tweaking with the broad NPHET advice to suit their own narrative. From hairdressers to pubs and restaurants everyone is interpreting the advice slightly differently and adopting their own policy. I suppose it’s no surprise considering the inconsistencies in the messages coming from the government in the first place.
Sporting venues such as racecourses need to be brought into line with the rest of society and allowed to function as near to normal as is possible. Racecourse bars and restaurants should be open to those with vaccination certs and masks only worn indoors as is the case in the rest of society. With winter fast approaching there is no point increasing numbers allowed to attend race meetings unless those people can avail of all the facilities.
Covid appears to be with us for the long-term so we need to get society back functioning and that includes racecourses. There is no reason why a racecourse should be in any way more dangerous than any other area where people gather and it should be treated accordingly.
HRI issued some remarkable statistics last week for the first 6 months of 2021. Despite the country being locked down and all the bad publicity racing received during that period a number of the key metrics for the industry showed significant growth.
The number of horses in training rose by 24% compared to the same period in pre-Covid 2019. Active owners were up a similar percentage as were runners on the track. New owners coming into the game rose by 31.6%.
These figures would be remarkable at any time but to see such increases when prizemoney actually fell goes against all perceived logic. Average prizemoney per race dropped from €25,319 in 2019 to €20,550 in 2021. It has always been championed that prizemoney drives ownership but obviously there are other factors at play here.
We know Covid does funny things to people but buying racing horses must be one of the weirder side effects.
The old adage that ‘there is no such thing as bad publicity’ might also be a factor. Racing received unprecedented coverage in the first half of 2021 when Gordon Elliott sat on the dead horse. Is it merely a coincidence that the numbers of horses in training and new owners shot up during this period?
Whatever the reasons for this renewed interest in owning racehorses it’s hard to see it sustained without crowds returning to the tracks. The atmosphere that large crowds generate at sporting events is intoxicating and the sooner we can experience that buzz again at a race meeting the better for us all.
