Entire Ebor Festival abandoned

A lunch-time inspection revealed Knavesmire to be unfit for racing – and marketing manager James Brennan confirmed that, following the abandonment of the opening two days, the rest of the meeting had now fallen foul of conditions.

The news is a huge disappointment for the York Race Committee, which was looking forward to welcoming 100,000 spectators to the course in the first four-day meeting.

A record £2.7 million of prize money had been secured, but the cost to the York economy is likely to be even greater.

Brennan said: “All of the Ebor Festival has now been abandoned. We have been and had a look. The track at this time remains unraceable. The forecasts are, at best, changeable.

“The weather has beaten us. It's hugely disappointing for everyone – for the connections of the horses of an Ebor Festival which promised record prize money and for the racegoers who look forward to coming.”

William Derby, chief executive and clerk of the course, said: “The course is waterlogged in several places and there is no prospect of recovery. We’ve had five millimetre sharp shower yesterday afternoon and under a millimetre in a shower this morning.

“There is no prospect of the course recovering either for racing tomorrow or on Friday so I’m afraid the Ebor Festival 2008 has been abandoned. Obviously it is hugely disappointing for racegoers, connections and the racecourse team. We are desperately disappointed about that. We look forward to May 2009.”

Nicholas Wrigley, chair of York Race Committee, added: “We are extremely disappointed. I feel particularly sorry for William and his team because they have worked incredibly hard.

“I am extremely grateful that we have got the drainage scheme in operation and the only thing is to see whether we can bring that forward by an extra day and start on Friday instead of Saturday.”

Wrigley added: “We are all here because we love racing at York and we want to see racing at York. The only decision we had today was whether it was raceable on Thursday and whether it was worth going through the agonies of prolonging it for another day and seeing whether we could get Friday and Saturday.

“You only have to look at the level of the river, the level of the water table and also the forecast – another severe weather warning. In life, one always has difficult decisions but this was actually pretty straightforward.”

9.10am: Crunch decision at racecourse

YORK’S racing chiefs were due today to decide whether the final two days of the Ebor Festival will survive the summer downpours.

Thousands of race-goers were hit by a double dose of disappointment – as an inspection saw the first day of one of the biggest events in the city’s sporting calendar wiped out by rain, then today’s meeting was called off following further showers.

A further inspection was scheduled for noon today to determine if the prestigious festival – which was expected to see 100,000 racing fans descend on Knavesmire – can finally get under way tomorrow.

Course officials were also considering the unprecedented step of staging racing on Saturday as they attempt to salvage the event.

William Derby, the racecourse’s chief executive and clerk of the course, said last night: “We will look again on Wednesday for the rest of the week.

“We have a mixed forecast of sunshine and showers – it is very frustrating as when we walked the course at 2.50pm on Tuesday, it had dried up nicely with the brisk breeze and sunshine we had earlier in the afternoon.

“But we then had 5mm of rain in a sharp shower, which put us back to where we were in the early hours of the morning.

“We are now looking at all options for Thursday and Friday – we are still hoping to race then, and if we get a dry 24 hours we are hopeful of racing on those days.

“We are also considering racing on Saturday, and going through the logistics and implications of taking that unprecedented move.”

On Monday, racecourse chiefs were still confident of the festival going ahead as scheduled, but those plans were thrown into chaos by a night of heavy rain which led to yesterday’s inspection.

And Mr Derby defended their decision not to check the course earlier, saying: “We walked the course on Monday afternoon and it was raceable; we were also raceable on Monday night and the forecast was for light showers and rain which might miss us.

“But Knavesmire takes the first 5mm of water very effectively and then gets to a level where it takes no more. It’s very difficult to predict that tipping-point – there is no science or magic formula to that – but we reached it in the early hours of Tuesday.”

The racecourse also confirmed it is fully insured for loss of revenue, even if the entire festival is abandoned.

But this week’s washouts mean rain has now cost it four days of racing in the last 14 months, following the cancellation of last year’s two-day June meeting.

Counting the cost of cancelled race meetings

YORK’S rained-off races have created winners and losers among the city’s businesses – with many of them praying the second half of the Ebor Festival survives the summer downpours.

Pubs and shops near York Racecourse are counting the cost of the first two days of the most prestigious event in the venue’s calendar being washed out, while taxi drivers also saw their hopes of bumper takings dashed.

But with thousands of race-goers who came to York for the meeting staying on in the city despite the cancellation, hotels and city centre bars and restaurants were in happier mood, with some reporting more customers than expected.

Tony Griffiths, landlord of the Knavesmire pub on Albermarle Road, was among those ruing the rain which forced yesterday’s meeting, which was expected to draw a crowd of up to 18,000, to be abandoned.

“During the festival, we’d expect to take three times as much as we would in a normal week, but Tuesday was absolutely dead and it will be disastrous if the rest of the meeting is cancelled,” he said.

“I had to tell some of our bar staff, as well as our door staff, not to come, and turn away a delivery of the extra stock we’d ordered because we don’t know whether we’ll need it – we’ll be struggling to sell what we’ve already got.

“The Ebor Festival gives us some of our biggest days, so we’re saying our prayers that the whole of the meeting isn’t cancelled.”

It was a similar story at the Winning Post in Bishopthorpe Road, with one of the bar staff there saying: “It was as dead as a doornail yesterday and we’re dreading the next few days because we’ve called extra staff in.

“Normally in the past, people have been knocking on the door at 11am. This year, it’s a complete contrast.”

Alan Rowley, secretary of the York Taxi Drivers’ Association, said fares were thin on the ground following the race washout.

“It’s the biggest and most well-attended event of the year and, as drivers have been struggling during the credit crunch with people not using taxis or going out as much, we were looking forward to getting some of that business back,” he said.

“Instead, it’s all doom and gloom – this is a real blow because race-goers found out the meeting was off and didn’t need taxis. We also had to cancel the taxi marshals we’d put in place to prevent problems in queues.

“It’s a tough time for us, with no more race meetings this year after the Ebor, but we can’t control the elements.”

At the York Marriott Hotel on Tadcaster Road, there were few cancellations yesterday, but general manager Katharine Barenthian said: “Whether people will stay for the rest of the week depends on the rain – we’ll just have to wait and see.

“But many of our regular racing guests have returned and are entertaining themselves by going on trips. Most people who come to the festival make a week of it so we hope we won’t be affected too much.

“However, this is a big part of our business and it would be a huge shame if the whole of the festival was cancelled.”

Staff at the Punch Bowl in Blossom Street said they had lost some business during the morning, but later made up for that in increased food sales, while The Mount pub stayed busy with race-goers and all rooms at the nearby Hotel du Vin remained fully booked.

Meanwhile, the Meltons and Meltons Too restaurants in York had an unexpected boost when 70 racing fans chose to dine there at the last minute yesterday rather than at the Racecourse, while Loch Fyne in Walmgate said they had not had any cancellations, and Ate O’Clock in High Ousegate enjoyed a busier lunchtime than anticipated.

And city centre bookmakers were crammed with punters, with Darren Stilgoe, manager of totesport in Bootham, saying: “It’s bad news for the racecourse, but great news for us.

“People come to the races with money in their pocket and they’ll bet on anything. On race days, we’re normally busy in the morning and evening and quiet during the afternoon – this time, we’ve been packed right through.”

Seeking bright side to the dark clouds

TOURISM and business chiefs in York were today trying to look on the bright side, despite the undoubted blow dealt to the city’s economy by the loss of two days of the lucrative Ebor Festival.

They were hoping the thousands of racegoers who have descended on the area for the Ebor Festival will decide to stay put, even if the rest of the meeting has to be called off today.

“Visitors are disappointed, but upbeat,” said Chris Morton, visitor services manager for Visit York.

“The Dunkirk spirit is prevailing, with most visitors very keen to go to York’s attractions, pubs, shops and restaurants and find out what else there is to see and do in the city.

“Fortunately, we have had no cancellations through the Visitor Information Centre and we’re hopeful the race meetings will go ahead during the rest of the week. If there are problems with the course, our priority will be to encourage our guests to stay and explore the city instead.”

Len Cruddas, chief executive of York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “It’s a showcase event for the city and we’re obviously disappointed, but it’s one of those things and there’s nothing we can do about it.

“Hopefully, businesses in York will still benefit from people who have booked to stay here for the whole week, although the city will lose revenue from those who only planned to come for a day.

“Thankfully, this is a rare occurrence and at least if people have travelled to York and the racing is cancelled, there is still plenty for them to do.”

Drainage system to save future events?

HAD York Racecourse’s new multi-million-pound drainage system – due to be installed this winter – been operational, the first two days of the Ebor Festival might have been salvaged.

The event was extended to four days to make up for the loss of the venue’s September and October meetings due to work on the £2.5 million project taking place.

The system, scheduled for completion next spring in time for the May race festival, is intended to help stave off abandonments during periods of both heavy rain and drought, and will see the turf dug up and the track widened, along with the introduction of new irrigation measures.

Some drainage work has already been carried out along the edges of the track, and chief executive and clerk of the course William Derby said: “It would have given us a better chance of getting the moisture away.

“There are some low spots around the course which are causing us concern, so we are looking forward to having that project in place.”

Nicholas Wrigley, chairman of York Race Committee, said without the drainage work already completed, the problems with the track would have been even worse this week.