The Northern Ireland Festival of Racing saw how the most expected racing event in the UK was ruined by a false security alert that forced the organization to evacuate over 10,000 people from the Down Royal Racecourse.
As it became clear, the alert was false and only intended to ruin Ulsters biggest racing event of the year. The Manager of Down Royal Racecourse, expressed their disappointment after the high expectation they had on this event. He said that this kind of actions give a very poor image of the region and only harmed those thousands of people who were eager to enjoy the greatest racing event of the calendar. The Down Royal Racecourse refunded all bets to bookmakers, which supposed big economical losses for Down Royal that was expecting high revenues for that day.
He thanked everyone who collaborated in the evacuation process and praised their serenity and solidarity. He also thanked the PSNI for their assistance through the evacuation, which in all took 15 minutes. Jockeys, trainers, and owners have also given their full support to them, who further added their determination in continuing doing their work and offering all racegoers great events and show them the Northern Irish values. Finally, he announced that they will offer a free 5 pound bet to all attendants of the Boxing Day meeting.
As a consequence of this unfortunate event, the rest of races of that day were also canceled and will not take place this year. These include the James Nicholson Wine Merchant Champion Chase. The Down Royal Racecourse though will host more races later on.
