'Fingers crossed' for New Year's Day crowd but hopes are higher for festival
Officials at Cheltenham have concerns the track's New Year's Day fixture will be forced to go behind closed doors, with coronavirus rates rising around Gloucestershire and the prospect of Cheltenham being put into Tier 3 of local restrictions.
The news comes as Cheltenham welcomed a crowd of 1,921 exactly 39 weeks on from Gold Cup day. The course enjoyed a smooth first day of returning happy racegoers with 160 of the crowd owners and the remainder annual members.
Annual members at Cheltenham have dropped from the usual 8,000 to 3,600 and almost all of those eligible, within current restrictions, and eager to go were able to attend.
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