Leopardstown will cap its crowd at 10,000 per day for its Christmas festival because of Covid-19 protocols.Originally Posted by littlelad
There are no restrictions in place at Irish racecourses but, in order to ensure a comfortable experience for those in attendance, chief executive Tim Husbands said a limit on the amount of people allowed through the gates was needed.
Husbands urged racing fans to book their tickets as early as possible as all four days are expected to sell out. Only those with pre-ordered tickets will be granted access, and hospitality for days two and three of the meeting – December 27 and 28 – is already full.
Husbands told the Racing Post: "We will have a working capacity of 10,000 a day for our Christmas festival. We are planning for a limited capacity because of the need for social distancing and the various Covid protocols. I'd like to think there will be no significant U-turn by government in the coming weeks and that's what we are preparing for at the moment.
"This is the first year where we will have advance ticketing only for the Christmas festival. Usually 70 to 80 per cent of our crowds would rock up on the day and purchase their ticket then but this year is different. I would encourage people to buy their tickets in advance and do so as quickly as possible. There has already been a lot of interest. The hospitality for December 27 and 28 are already gone and the other two days are selling really well too."
An attendance of 10,000 per day will be the biggest at Leopardstown since the 2020 Dublin Racing Festival. The last time crowds were allowed to attend the Christmas festival at the track was in 2019 when the smallest crowd was on the fourth and final day but even that was more than 10,000, as 10,791 attended.
Big-race entries for Leopardstown's meeting
There were 13,266 on December 26, 16,727 on December 27 and 16,251 on December 28.
Husbands added: "We will have a significant marquee in order to try and service people with a little bit of heat given the time of year. We have various other things planned for outdoors like a Christmas village and we hope to move people around the place to the best of our ability. The place will look great and I would hope everyone will have a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
"But the one message I would like to get out there is to purchase tickets as early as possible as I do expect all four days to sell out. If you are doing your Christmas shopping now then get your tickets to Leopardstown now as well. There are four days of top-class racing and I can't wait to see A Plus Tard coming back to defend his Savills Chase crown. That looks set to be the best race of the festival."
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