Leopardstown's four-day Christmas Festival will be run without racegoers for the second year running. The news broke at lunchtime on Christmas Eve. No other tracks or fixtures are affected.

The racecourse had already cut its daily attendance limit to 5,000 people, in accordance with Government guidelines, in a bid to limit the spread of Covid-19. However, a steep rise in the number of daily infections, along with problems in securing sufficient staff to provide a safe and satisfactory experience, forced Leopardstown to take drastic action.

A statement from the racecourse said that only industry participants, racehorse owners with runners, and racecourse members would be allowed attend. Members of the public who bought tickets will be refunded "as soon as possible".

Tim Husbands, chief executive of Leopardstown Racecourse, said: "We have seen the rising case numbers nationally and locally reflected in our staff over the past few days, a situation that has become increasingly concentrated over the past 24 hours and has forced us to make this late decision.

"It makes it impossible for Leopardstown to provide a safe and enjoyable experience for the general public and has led us to make the difficult call to close the festival to the general public.

"I know this will be hugely disappointing news to all of those who had purchased tickets in advance, as it is deeply disappointing to the team here who have worked so hard in putting a fantastic festival together.

"Our team will process refunds as soon as possible so please do not call or visit the racecourse we will issue your refund in due course and no later than 28 days after the event. We appreciate your patience in this matter.

"We have managed to deploy staff from other racecourses and we've had colleagues from Horse Racing Ireland who answered the call and kindly volunteered to work at Leopardstown over Christmas. However, that still hasn't been sufficient as we have not been able to keep pace with the volume of staff who, in particular, have been identified as close contacts. In addition, we know that our experience with cases and close contacts has been replicated in our third-party suppliers which, by itself, would have had implications next week.

"Thankfully we still have the staff necessary and expertise to put on four brilliant days of racing from Sunday which you can view on Racing TV and RTE."

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