Officials had hoped to welcome spectators to Musselburgh for Wednesday’s meeting; however, the nine-race event will be held behind closed doors as officials admitted that time ran out on preparations for the meeting.
Musselburgh chief executive, Bill Farnsworth said: “We simply ran out of time with plans for our meeting on August 26 and pulled stumps on that idea yesterday.” Sturgeon warned that any return of fans to any sport or event would depend on the number of Covid 19 cases, a surge of new infections would mean a cancellation of these plans.
The First Minister said: “Given the volatility of the virus, there is the very real possibility that some, or all, of these plans, could change”. She added, “With that significant caveat, we hope that sports stadiums will be able to reopen from September 14.” Sturgeon continued, “Some professional sports events might be arranged for spectators before then with Scottish government agreement to test the safety of any new arrangements.”
It is not known at the moment what test events are planned, but it seems highly likely that Musselburgh will be involved in any such trial. Scotland has seen 19,877 cases of CoVid-19, which has led to 2,492 deaths attributed to the virus. The country has fared much better than neighbouring England, which has had 279,000 cases with 36,765 deaths.
The localised surge in England’s cases is a contributory factor in the last-minute cancellation of spectators at this year’s Glorious Goodwood. Five thousand racegoers had been expected to attend as part of a trial of a test event; however, an increase of the “R” number, which indicates the reproduction rate of the virus, meant these plans were abandoned.
Spectators will not return to any race meetings in England before October 1 under Boris Johnson’s government’s plans, although they once again plan to hold test events. Doncaster’s St Leger meeting starting on September 9 along with Newmarket’s Cambridgeshire meeting towards the end of September have been mooted as possible options.
