ASCOT Racecourse is set to pay a heavy price for running the Royal Meeting with no punters next week.
Champagne and top hats are to be replaced with facemasks and sanitiser as the usual crowd of over 300,000 is reduced to the bare bones.
But it is a price worth paying with the industry relying on the most famous Flat meeting in the world to get the tills turning again.
Nick Smith, Director of Racing at Ascot, admits it will come at a “significant” cost to the racecourse, but is confident the long-term benefits will outweigh any cash problems, with Ascot set to lose over 70% of its income in the immediate future.
When asked to sum up the past few months at Ascot, Smith told Sun Racing: “Uncertainty would be the key word that’s for sure. By no stretch of anyone’s imagination was this meeting certain to go ahead at any time.
“Before the government clearance we were only hopeful, planning ahead in really detailed conversations about the order of running, new races and all you had in the back of your mind was whether we’d even be going ahead or not.”
But the green light came and plans were quickly put in place, even if they don’t come cheap. The bill will be a lengthy one.
Smith explained: “We need to get the tills turning, we need to get the betting turnover going again. The Levy Board’s contributions and racecourses own, won’t last forever otherwise.
“Seventy percent of our income is from people coming through the turnstiles and hospitality but we’re still putting in a significant amount of executive contribution into the meeting.
“That’s a commitment we’re making to Royal Ascot because it’s important Ascot stands up and is credible.
“There is no profit from this and there is still prize money to pay so it is going to be costly. No race meeting is going to suffer more in terms of lost hospitality than us, by a country mile.
“There would normally be 300,000 people so it is a hard hit. And it will be difficult in the future too, it’s not like it all ends after Royal Ascot.
“It’s really hard to put a figure on it just because we don’t know how long it will go on for. But what we do know is that it will harm and impact our financial results in a significant way.”
Preparations at the course are nearly complete. The weighing room has been revamped to ensure social distancing can be adhered to with the Bandstand Restaurant being turned into an overfill.
The world famous parade ring will be marked out with flags and stickers two metres apart, six new handicaps have been added and there will be NO strict dress code for one year only. Times really are a changing.
Smith laughed: “The key thing we’re doing is Royal Ascot at home, trying to get people at home to take part in the meeting!
“There won’t be a dress code on site, but with some irony there will be at home.
“The practicalities of morning dress without an enclosure to justify it and then people have to wear masks and it just wouldn’t have made sense.”
Prize money has been chopped in half by the virus but there was little that could be done and the meeting has still managed to attract an international group of challengers.
Smith added: “The prize money has been reduced, but it is still high in terms of what else is available and for opportunities there are.
“We’ve put six extra races in and they will attract horses of non-pattern level and opening the opportunity to trainers and even more so owners, who would not maybe have had the chance of a runner here before.
“Under the circumstances I’m pretty pleased with the international turnout.
“I keep thinking of Nature Strip in the King’s Stand and how that would have looked but that adventure just became impossible. America was one thing but Australia just wasn’t possible.
“So we have an international contingent which we have to be pleased with.
“Graham Motion’s Sharing is a top, top horse and so is Wesley Ward’s Kimari, they are both real Group 1 horses plus we’ll have the two-year olds too.”
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