Leopardstown set to welcome biggest crowds since pre-pandemic at Christmas

The first three days of Leopardstown’s Christmas Festival are sold out with just a few tickets left for the final leg of one of the biggest meetings of the year.

The daily 6,000 crowd limit imposed due to the impact of renewed Government Covid-19 restrictions is the highest attendance level Leopardstown has had since the pandemic began but represents only a third of normal full capacity.

Arrangements for crowds of up to 10,000 had been announced last month but the emergence of the omicron variant of coronavirus resulted in those plans having to be scrapped.

Just over 57,000 people attended the four days of Christmas action at the south Dublin course in 2019. Last year the traditional festive date was held behind closed doors.

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New hospitality regulations that allow only for table service in all bars and restaurants, with a metre between each table, and a maximum of six adults per table, are central to the new crowd limit.

By law alcoholic drinks have to be served at a table with an inevitable impact on the amount of space available for the public. Marquees though will be put in place to help cater for racegoers.

Leopardstown officials are pointing to how the Christmas attendance will trump the 4,000 people who were at September’s leg of Irish Champions Weekend.

“We are delighted to be able welcome that many in. That’s more than we’ve had over the course of the last 18 months so it’s got to be a positive thing.

“The first three days are sold out. There’s a huge amount of interest in it. We would have loved to have done some more. But a capacity of 6,000 is the most reasonable we can put together and make sure everyone has an enjoyable and safe time.

“I think there are a few tickets left on Day Four but not a lot,” Leopardstown’s chief executive Tim Husbands said on Sunday.

“We accept it’s a move forward towards full capacity. It would be lovely to think we could get a bigger capacity at the Dublin Racing Festival (February 5th-6th) but fingers crossed the variant doesn’t come higher than we expect it to,” he added.

Down Royal has sold out its 3,500 admission tickets for its fixture on St Stephen’s Day.

Limerick officials are monitoring the situation ahead of their own four-day Christmas festival which also starts on St Stephen’s Day.

“A lot of tickets are being sold online so it’s very hard to know at this early stage what the interest level is going to be,” said Paddy Dunican, who is acting as interim manager at the track until new boss Emma White is in place in the New Year.

“We will be monitoring it very closely and if we feel there is a need for a crowd capacity obviously we will do that,” he added.

Dunican also said ticket-holders will be allowed into the course but will have to have Covid vaccine certs or proof that they’ve had the virus to use indoor facilities at the meeting.