Irish courses prepared to suffer 'short-term pain' in bid to get crowds back

Hosting crowds of 500 people or less is not financially viable according to two of Ireland's racecourse managers, but both are willing to endure the short-term pain in exchange for the long-term gain of packed enclosures in hopefully the not-too-distant future.

A government announcement on Friday on the next phase of Ireland's national reopening could shed light on the timeline for spectators to attend racecourse trial events, with Horse Racing Ireland chief executive Brian Kavanagh this week stressing that racing is eager to be involved.

All 26 Irish courses have been asked by HRI to provide a template of how they would operate with the return of racegoers and Kevin Coleman, manager of Bellewstown and Laytown, said staging a meeting for a crowd of 500 is more complicated than a lot of people might realise.