There may be good news for Scottish racegoers who want to attend the races coming soon. (Image from deadlinenews.co.uk)
One of the biggest changes to come from the ongoing global pandemic for sporting events has been the lack of fans allowed in attendance, and whilst the ongoing situation is still in full swing it’s looking as if there may be some changes on the way for some fans as Scotland may be gearing up for the stands to fill (just a little) in the middle of next month. This comes as we move further into the final stages of the flat season and the start of the new national hunt season. That has already led to many players getting involved on the markets using the sign up offers. These not only offer promo codes but also guides and events upcoming. These codes can also be used on the different upcoming horse racing meetings and other sporting fixtures taking place at present.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced earlier this week that sports stadiums may be able to start allowing spectators to attend events at a limited capacity from September 14th so long as social distancing measures can continue to be observed throughout the period of time – initial rumblings had come for officials to open Musselburgh to the public a little earlier in the week but those plans eventually fell through. Bill Farnsworth, the chief exec of Musselburgh said “We simply ran out of time with plans for our meeting.”
It has also been reiterated however that with how volatile the situation currently is, there are no guarantees that these plans will remain in place and will largely rely on numbers staying low – whilst some professional sport events may be able to host spectators prior to September date in order to test the safety of any new arrangements that may come.
There are two races that are currently looking to be considered for this trial period – Doncaster’s St Leger meeting starts on September 9th, a little before the deadline but certainly an option. The second target is looking a little more promising – Newmarket’s Camridgeshire meeting is set to take place on September 24th and may be the first big meet that allows spectators once again.
The rest of the UK isn’t set to have spectators until October 1st at the earliest, but this start is starting to look a little more at risk as Europe continues to brace for what is looking to be a second outbreak of the virus – if numbers continue to rise much in the way they have been, these plans may certainly be pushed back until the new year.
This is exciting news for punters too – many betting shops still only allow a limited number of punters in a similar method to keep things as controlled as possible – the ability to head to the races again will certainly get many reinvigorated in racetrack betting after the recent rise in online sports betting again. Some have even managed to find a lot of success lately too – one lucky better was able to be on the right side of an each-way bet placing £1 down and getting £150,000 in return.
Until the trials are successful though, fans shouldn’t hold their breath – as mentioned things may change very quickly, and whilst an early event may be successful, any rise in cases will set things back to where they had been previously. There isn’t any word on just what limited numbers may be either, what is true for one meet may not be entirely possible for another.
