Racing: New Zealand Cup week cops major Covid blow

Cups Week in Christchurch this year won't be the same without big crowds and fashion in the field shows. Photo / Simon Baker

New Zealand Cup week in Christchurch may have been left a shell of its usual racing extravaganza but don't be surprised to see more people on track for the iconic New Zealand Cup day than expected.

Both Addington and Riccarton announced on Tuesday they will be unable to host their normal crowds for the historic week because of uncertainty around Covid restrictions.

While New Zealand Trotting Cup day at Addington is still three weeks away the infrastructure to host a large crowd would need to start being put in place this week so the call was made yesterday to announce that won't be happening this year.

If restrictions remain the same as they are now for Cup week Riccarton will cap their numbers at 2000 per day, predominantly industry participants, owners with horses racing and members, while Addington estimate they can host around 1200 people for Cup and Show Day.

While that is a far cry from a huge Cup Day crowd of 24,000 or even the 12,000 who attended last year, Addington spokesman Darrin Williams says the club has plans in place that could see the day "scaled up.""Today was a line in the sand for having anything like a normal Cup day, which we simply can't do now," said Williams.

"But we realise things could change with restrictions in the next two weeks and if they did we could still have limited public sales.

"Just to be clear we won't be having a full Cup Day but if things go well and we had clarity around restriction levels dropping by next Monday then we could work toward accomodating maybe 5000 people on Cup day. But that is very much an if.

"If we could only start planning for something like that after receiving more clarity by a later date, like November 1, then that number would drop to something like 2000 public.

"But we absolutely won't be having a normal crowd."Williams says the problem with allowing more people to attend if restrictions are loosened is event organisers have to try and keep people one metre apart and seated for food and drink.

"That is where we are different from a rugby game in that people remain in their seats or standing up at the rugby or other sports. It is a lot harder to stop people mixing at a race meeting."

Even if the Cup week meetings opens up slightly in coming weeks it will now be a no goer for many from around the country.

Hundreds of Aucklanders usually fly south for the week, ploughing an enormous amount of money into the Christchurch economy, some estimates suggesting a full Cup week is worth as much to the city as two All Black tests.

While Aucklanders can't travel to Christchurch at the moment even if those restrictions are lifted by Cup week few would be willing to take the risk of flying south for race meetings they may not be able to attend.

So if Addington and Riccarton can allow more people to attend closer to time then that would be more likely to be locals happy to attend at a general admission level, with adding extra hospitality packages a lot more difficult because of space limitations and the infrastructure needed.

The one silver lining to the Cup week crowd reductions for both clubs is if Auckland remains in lockdown during Cup week the turnover on the race meetings will be through the roof.

So much of the country's betting turnover comes out of Auckland and last Saturday's Hastings and Ashburton thoroughbred meetings boasted enormous turnovers as people in northern regions have few other live entertainment options, matching digital turnover trends worldwide during lockdowns.

But with close to 20 per cent of Addington's revenue coming from Cup week, yesterday's announcement the party won't go ahead this year is a huge blow for them and for Riccarton.

Just how impactful that will end up being will become clearer over the next two weeks.