Green light to increase the number of spectators

It follows the successful reintroduction of racing fans to the last meeting on 25 May which was limited to 250 in a carefully managed exercise designed to limit the risk of spreading coronavirus.

Saturday’s Edinburgh Cup Race Day, (5 June) which features prize money of more than £110,000, has already sold out.

Musselburgh Racecourse general manager, Bill Farnsworth, said that after racing behind-closed-doors for more than a year, the East Lothian track was taking a careful approach to crowd levels in the coming months.

He said: “We wanted to keep it simple for our first ‘live’ meeting in 15 months and by limiting the crowd to 250 we demonstrated that there was lots of space and that going forward we could accommodate 500 people without any issues.

“Naturally people want things to go back to normal, but we have to take things one step at a time and host race meetings in a manner that puts safety first and minimises the risk of infection.

“Our first meeting with spectators worked very well and we will carefully build on that in the weeks ahead while adhering to the relevant Government and health agencies advice.”

At the Edinburgh Cup meeting on Saturday bars at the racecourse will reopen but service will be limited to guests sitting at tables, with no standing permitted and social distancing maintained.

The racecourse also hosts the traditional summer harness racing two-day event on Tuesday 15 June and Wednesday 16 June which will have a 500 spectator limit. The meetings are dependent on the Harness Racing Authority being granted permission by the East Lothian Safety Advisory Group.