Newmarket forced to cancel pilot events at Cambridgeshire meeting

The Jockey Club has been forced to cancel pilot events for the return of crowds at Newmarket's Cambridgeshire meeting from Thursday.

This followed the announcement by prime minister Boris Johnson that plans for spectators to return to sports venues in England from October 1 will not go ahead, a restriction that could last six months.

The government had previously sanctioned trial events with up to 1,000 spectators and on Monday Warwick welcomed 454 racegoers.

"We respect the government's decision to postpone its programme of spectator pilots across sport as part of trying to reduce interaction between people," said Jockey Club regional director Amy Starkey.

"Sadly, this means the Cambridgeshire meeting will take place without the limited number of spectators who the team worked so hard to prepare to welcome in a safe way. We'll continue to work with the rest of the industry, government and our local authority on when it might be possible for spectators to return in the future.

"Unfortunately it now looks like we will not have any visitors to a raceday for the duration of our 2020 Flat season. I'm proud of the role Newmarket has played in ensuring that racing has been able to continue behind closed doors, as we will be doing again this week."

454 spectators attended Warwick's pilot meeting on MondayCredit: Edward Whitaker

The Racecourse Association (RCA) confirmed that any further pilot events would be postponed until further notice and in a statement it recognised the success of the two trials at Warwick and Doncaster.

"The news that all elite sporting pilot events are to be postponed is incredibly disappointing," said RCA chief executive David Armstrong.

"The sport has worked tirelessly to develop protocols to allow spectators to safely enjoy a day's racing and early indications from our pilot events are that these were a success.

"All sports are suffering from the effect of zero admissions income and racing is no different. It's imperative discussions continue with the government to highlight the economic impact of this decision."

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