Animal Rising, the animal rights group that disrupted the Grand National, are now planning to halt this weekend's Epsom Derby.
It comes after the Jockey Club were granted a High Court injunction in a bid to prevent protesters from disrupting the derby. April's Grand National was delayed after hundreds of activists attempted to gain access to the course.
This prompted the Jockey Club, who own both the Epsom and Aintree racecourses, to take legal action arguing that such protests "compromise the safety of equine and human participants and all racegoers". And High Court judge Sir Anthony Mann granted an injunction stating that activists who disrupted the event could be subject to proceedings for contempt of court, which may lead to a fine and/or imprisonment.
Despite the High Court injunction, the Express report that more than 70 Animal Rising activists are still planning to disrupt the Derby. Protesters are said to be planning to invade the course after holding 'training sessions' at an office block in London.
Jockey Club chief executive Nevin Truesdale told the Express: "Our number one priority will always be to ensure that the safety of all our equine and human participants and racegoers, officials and our own employees is not compromised. Everyone should have the right to peaceful protest and we have offered Animal Rising an area near the entrance of Epsom Downs Racecourse to express their views in a law-abiding way.
"However, they have repeatedly made it explicitly clear that they intend to break the law and disrupt The Derby Festival, leaving us with no choice but to seek a High Court injunction. Judge Sir Anthony Mann's decision to grant us that injunction last week means that anyone who chooses to breach security will not only be dealt with robustly by our security teams and the police but could also now be subject to contempt of court proceedings which may result in a fine and imprisonment.
"As such I now urge Animal Rising to abandon any plans to breach security at The Derby Festival and respect the legitimate right of the thousands of people who will join us at Epsom Downs and the millions of others watching at home and around the world to enjoy the sport they love uninterrupted. We will simply not tolerate a repeat of the dangerous and reckless behaviour we saw at Aintree on Grand National Day."
Frankie Dettori, who will ride in his final Derby, told the BBC: "I just hope things can go smooth on Saturday and we can race without any problems or with anyone being in danger. Let's hope the protestors don't impede this beautiful event."
Irish trainer Aidan O'Brien, who has several horses running in the Derby, warned a delay to the race would be a "big negative" for all involved including the horses. "It's out of our control," O'Brien said. "Any delay would be a big negative. Things happen every day to test us all and you just have to make the best of a situation whichever way it has fallen and it will be the same for everybody, that's all any of us can do really.
"Obviously it is not ideal for anybody [a delay to the race]. The horses, the people involved, everybody. Hopefully everybody will see sense and it won't be like that, but all any of us can do is our best and hopefully everybody will see sense and look at the welfare of the animals and people and everybody first."
