Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has defended the decision to let the Cheltenham Festival go-ahead during the coronavirus pandemic after it came under fire from the main stream media. A total of 251,684 people attended the four day spectacular which ended on Friday, March 13 – down on an overall attendance of 266,557 in 2019. Additional hygiene measures were put in place as a result of the pandemic, and it wasn;t until 10 days later that Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressed the UK to impose the current lockdown.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain, Dowden was accused by presenter Piers Morgan of “actively encouraging” people to attend the likes of the Cheltenham and the Liverpool versus Atletico Madrid football match after the Government decided not to ban major events until late March.
Mr Dowden said: “The scientific evidence we were being given was that, at a mass gathering, the threat at a mass gathering relates to the people who immediately surround you – the people in front of you and behind you. The risk at mass gatherings was no greater or less than it would have been in pubs or restaurants, and the advice at that point was that we did not need to ban mass gatherings.”
Asked whether the advice was wrong by Morgan – who has made reference to the Cheltenham Festival in virtually every appearance he has made on the show in recent weeks which has sparked a backlash in the racing industry – the Cabinet minister replied: “As the situation developed, the scientific advice changed and we changed our guidance off the back of it. But mass gatherings are not different to any of those other events I described and at the appropriate moment we took the decision to close pubs, to close restaurants.”
Speaking on Racing TV on Sunday, British Horseracing Authority chief executive Nick Rust stressed that the Cheltenham Festival meeting had taken place in conjunction with Government advice at the time. He said: “There’s a lot of comment around and blame around, but you have to put it into context. The decision to go ahead with Cheltenham was taken with Government advice and Government scientific and medical advice.
“Many other activities took place that week, we had a Premiership football weekend beforehand, a Six Nations rugby match on the Sunday, Crufts indoors, millions of people were going down the tube in London. The advice was keep going. Then things changed that week. Of course I guess we should be a little bit worried, not necessarily because of the decisions taken around that but because of the perception of it.
“Winding back to the Tuesday of that week, I think if we’d cancelled racing against Government advice at that time for Cheltenham, I just don’t think it would have been the right decision and it would have been widely criticised as being somewhat alarmist.
“But the mood did change that week, Rishi Sunak came out with his budget on the Wednesday and there was a more worried update from Boris Johnson on the Thursday. Then quickly we got into the next week on the Monday and things had changed very rapidly straight into limitations on gatherings, drains on public services and a much different mood and scientific message.”
It has also been revealed that record-breaking flat trainer Mark Johnston is recovering well after contracting coronavirus. The Middleham based handler became the winning most trainer in British racing history when he saddled his 4,194th winner last season. He has been isolating since having symptoms confirmed after his temperature reached 39 degrees .
His son Angus said on Racing TV’s Luck on Sunday programme: “He had a couple of days in bed, but was back up yesterday and is starting to move around. He’s eager to get back to work, mum is having to put the brakes on him and telling him to keep calm, Charlie is doing an amazing job of running things as normal. All the horses are getting out and everything is running really smoothly.”
Johnston’s wife, Deirdre, added: “I wouldn’t wish it on anybody, thankfully his breathing was always fine and he didn’t have to go to hospital.” Deirdre and Angus have become internet sensations during the lockdown by entertaining viewers on social media channels with their “Kingsley House Acoustic Sessions” . She added: “It’s really kept me going, I’m used to being out on a horse all day – I’m walking my box and crib biting, so it helps stop that!”