The Australian Turf Club’s efforts to persuade the NSW state government to allow 15 000 people to attend the 2021 edition of The Everest has not been successful.
After a cabinet meeting late yesterday (Monday), the NSW government handed down the decision that The Everest crowd would be capped at 5000 but, importantly, that approval was conditional and would only come into effect if the state has reached its seventy percent vaccination target by that time.
It is understood that the NSW government’s planned post lockdown Covid-19 roadmap initially includes a cap of 5000 people being able attend outdoor sporting events and that, given the limitations that other industries might still be facing post lockdown, they therefore were not in a position to rubber stamp an event having three times that stipulated number of people in attendance.
The Everest is scheduled for October 16 and it is still unclear at this stage as to exactly when the state’s seventy percent vaccine target will be met, although it is expected to fall very close to The Everest race-date itself, with racing authorities obviously hoping it arrives before, rather than after, one of the state’s biggest showpiece race-days.