As the time of the first race approached, figures began to appear on the crags and outcrops of Cleeve Hill, high above Cheltenham racecourse.
This year’s horse racing festival is being held behind closed doors and police officers have been posted around the course to keep would-be spectators away from the action. But a determined few were not to be put off and clambered up the hill in the warm sunshine for a faraway glimpse of one of the great sights of the sporting calendar.
John Cooper, a psychologist from Cheltenham who has been to every meeting for more than three decades, said he could not resist taking a peek. “It’s such a wonderful sight,” he said.
He had climbed the hill, the highest point in the Cotswolds, with his second cousin, Rachael Martin, a student, and was explaining to her how odd this year’s event felt. “It’s pretty weird to see the town so empty,” he said. “It’s usually filled with tens of thousands of people, many of them Irish, having a massive party. It feels hollow this year.”
Cheltenham during festival time is, in normal times, a riot of colour and life. Royals and aristocrats rub shoulders with reality TV stars, footballers and farmers. Some are there to try to make money, others to sink as many pints of Guinness and glasses of champagne as possible.
Not this year. There are no helicopters ferrying in the super-rich, no hired limousines carrying gangs of party-goers up to the front gate.
“It’s usually rammed here at this time,” said Michael Brown, who works in one of the car parks near the main entrance. “It feels very odd but at least there’s racing. Let’s hope we’re back to normal next year.”
Charlie Hayhurst-Ding, who runs a takeaway cafe in Pitville Park, close to the racecourse, said: “It is very, very quiet.” He has worked at the festival in the past and in the pubs during the event. “It gets crazy busy,” he said. “Actually I’m enjoying the fact you can get around this year.”
The festival is estimated to be worth £100m to the regional economy. Pubs, hotels, B&Bs, restaurants, grocery shops and butchers are losing out hugely. A pile of unwanted Racing Posts at the Clarence Stores newsagents told the tale. The shops had optimistically ordered 65 and sold less than a dozen.
Steve Ratcliffe, the chairman of Cheltenham Tigers rugby club, was to be found fixing a broken advertising hoarding. Usually the club makes £30,000 from serving punters breakfasts and beers and providing car parking spaces. “The festival is our biggest fundraiser,” said Ratcliffe. The club is launching a crowdfunding campaign to try to make up the losses.
Back on the hill, Ian Coote watched the racing through a pair of binoculars. He lives locally and often watches from this vantage point even when crowds are allowed. “You see the race finish and then a second or so later the roar of the crowd reaches you up here,” he said. “I like that.”
The photographs of packed stands at Cheltenham last year as Covid spread may become one of the defining images of the UK’s initial reaction to the pandemic.
Many locals felt at the time that it should not have gone ahead – and are sure that it is right that there are no crowds this time. “I have friends who went last year and caught Covid,” said Coote. “It definitely had an impact on the spread of coronavirus in this area. I’m glad they’ve seen sense this year.”
