'Minimal disruption' the plan as Newbury prepares for Covid certification

Newbury is hopeful racegoers will experience “minimal disruption” when it enforces new guidelines around mandatory Covid certification on Wednesday.

Prime minister Boris Johnson announced new restrictions last week to tackle the Omicron variant, including the mandatory use of NHS Covid passes for outdoor sporting venues where more than 4,000 people will be in attendance from Wednesday, December 15, subject to parliamentary approval.

All those at Newbury, including participants, owners, officials and spectators, will be asked to provide proof of vaccination or a negative lateral flow test result within 48 hours of the meeting.

Prior to the government’s announcement, Chelmsford had already decided spectators must show a Covid pass or recent negative test to attend its fixtures since December 2.

Similar measures have been in place in Scotland since October 1 and in Wales since October 11, while Covid restrictions announced in Ireland last week will mean the big festive meetings at Leopardstown and Limerick will take place with capped attendances.

Covid certification no cause for alarm - and might just bring cautious fans back (Members' Club)

Harriet Collins, communications and sponsorship director at Newbury, said: “We will be operating Covid-19 vaccination certification on Wednesday when it becomes mandatory. We’ve got an expected crowd of more than 4,000 so in accordance with government guidelines the new rules will be in place, as they will for our final fixture of the year on December 29.

“All attendees will have to supply Covid certification via the NHS app or via a letter, or proof of a negative lateral flow test within 48 hours of the event.

“We’re really trying to do this with minimal disruption to the raceday experience but we’ll be sending out detailed communications to everyone so they know exactly what to expect, from the moment they get out of the car to making sure they have their certificate downloaded and ready. We will also be providing details of how to get that official certification.”

Gates at Newbury open at 10.30am, with tickets available on the day and people attending advised to plan to arrive in good time.

While Covid certification will be in use at Newbury, Wednesday’s other meetings at Kempton, Lingfield and Leicester are not expected to attract a crowd exceeding the 4,000 threshold.

Leicester general manager David Maykels said: “Nothing has changed at all on Wednesday and we’ll have have 500 or 600 people at the racecourse. All of the measures that are in place across all racecourses are still in place.

“We only have a handful of busy meetings at Leicester, most of our less busy meetings see a crowd of less than 1,000 and our six premium meetings commence next year in April. Our December 28 meeting in a normal year would probably have about 3,500 people but in a Covid year we’ve seen our premium meetings drop significantly to well under 2,000 people.

“I think we’ll be busier at Christmas, but I think people are probably going to be a little more reluctant to come out while this variant is out there so I’m expecting a much quieter December 28 meeting than normal which means we’ll be well below the threshold.”

He added: “The bigger courses are going to have far more complicated planning than we’ve going to have, it’s going to be difficult for those courses that have big crowds over the Christmas period. They’re going to have to put measures in place immediately but luckily for us we don’t have to do that.”

Johnson had on Sunday set a new target for all adults in England to be offered a booster jab by the end of December. On Monday it was announced at least one person in the UK had died from the Omicron coronavirus variant.

Read more:

NHS Covid passes required for racecourse entry in England from next week

Blow for Leopardstown as reduced crowd cap inevitable after restrictions tighten

The Front Runner is our latest email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, a four-time Racing Reporter of the Year award winner, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday