Ascot Racecourse has received a boost with the news that it has been selected by the British government to be part of the Events Research Programme (ERP) as restrictions continue to ease with regard to sporting events.
The announcement means that the racecourse will now be able to host 12,000 people daily during Royal Ascot, which begins its five-day run on Tuesday, June 15. With the final tier of government restrictions set to be lifted nationally on June 21, there had been fears that only 4,000 people would be allowed to be on site at the races each day, including all connections of horses.
A statement released by Ascot on Wednesday read, “Whilst the precise detail of what will be trialled and what the requirements from visitors to the racecourse will be remains work in progress, it is confirmed today that 12,000 people will be admitted each day to Royal Ascot. As details are confirmed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), and following input from Public Health England and Ascot's Safety Advisory Group, they will become available on: www.ascot.co.uk.
“Today's announcement means that all those who rolled over their 2020 bookings can now be accommodated and an allocation of Royal Enclosure Badges and Queen Anne (General Admission) tickets will go on sale this Friday, 28 May.”
Ascot's chief executive Guy Henderson added, “We are delighted that Royal Ascot has been accepted to play its part in the next phase of the Government's Events Research Programme. We much look forward to welcoming 12,000 racegoers each day. Our thanks go to our industry bodies, the British Horseracing Authority and the Racecourse Association, which led the preparation of the submission to Government.”
Despite the boost in the spectator limit, this remains a long way short of the number of people that would usually attend Royal Ascot, an iconic fixture in the English summer season which generally welcomes 300,000 racegoers across the five days of action. Last year's meeting was held behind closed doors.
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