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Security measures are in place to avoid any disruption by protestors for the upcoming Betfred Derby Festival, The Jockey Club confirmed on Sunday.

Both the Grand National and Scottish Grand National meetings attracted protestors that delayed proceedings to various degrees, but The Jockey Club is taking every possible precaution to avoid that scenario for the upcoming meeting on June 2-3. Epsom Downs Racecourse is owned and operated by The Jockey Club, and officials have met with the Surrey police in advance of the meeting.

Nevin Truesdale, Chief Executive of the Jockey Club, said, “As part of our planning for the Derby Festival, we have been working with Surrey Police to ensure we have a range of robust security measures in place to protect the safety of everyone at the event, especially our equine and human participants, which will always be our number one priority.

“While we completely respect anyone's right to peaceful and lawful protest, we would condemn illegal and reckless plans to breach security in an effort to disrupt the action on the track and endanger the safety of the participants in the strongest possible terms.

“Thousands of people look forward to attending the Derby every year and millions more will be watching at home and around the world, so we look forward to staging what is not only an important event for the sport but an iconic moment in the British summer and a celebration of the Thoroughbred.”

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A group of four protestors lying on the track in a “sleeping dragon” maneuver caused officials to push back the start of Thursday's card at Golden Gate Fields in Berkeley, Calif. Races were scheduled to begin at 12:45 p.m. Pacific, and have not begun as of 3:45 p.m. The track feed indicates that the afternoon's first race has been canceled, while races two through seven are delayed until further notice.

The actions also caused a 2 1/2-hour shutdown of the COVID-19 vaccination clinic hosted at Golden Gate.

The protestors were joined by a group of about a dozen others demonstrating outside the track, and belong to a group called Direct Action Everywhere (DXE), which has been live streaming the goings-on on their Facebook page.

Spokesperson Cassie King, appearing on the live feed, said DXE was spurred to action by the deaths of three horses during a recent four-week period.

According to a press release issued by the organization, the four on-track protestors are Omar Aicardi, Rachel Ziegler, Rocky Chau and Jamie Crom. They are connected by heavily-weighted PVC pipes in a direct action maneuver called a “sleeping dragon.” They also lit purple smoke flares while in place.

“These beautiful animals live lives of exploitation and abuse for the sake of profit, then they're killed for the same reason,” said Chau. “The public is increasingly aware of the reality of this barbaric industry, and is demanding that we leave it in the past.”

At about 1:30 p.m., security personnel could be seen on the track hovering over the protestors, but didn't take any action against them. An hour later, a tent was placed on the track to shade the protestors.

Golden Gate Fields is a firm believer in the right to protest. However, the current actions of the protesters have forced the closure of the onsite COVID vaccination clinic, and hundreds of people have already had their vaccinations cancelled.

— Golden Gate Fields (@GGFracing) March 4, 2021

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