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The no white trainer policy didn’t really filter out any brawlers on Saturday.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"“Am I the only one going racing (the purpose of this thread)?”
Work makes it difficult to go midweek.
I generally avoid weekends and evening meetings nowadays because I do not really like being around groups of men who want to drink 20 pints of lager and then look for a fight, or groups of young women who start screeching after half a glass of prosecco.
I might go to the evening meeting at Aintree next week (it is a large enough track to avoid the idiots, who tend not to go to this meeting anyway).
I may go to one of the upcoming Wolverhampton afternoons and I am going to try to go to Worcester again soon. I have lost my race card from my only visit which means it is the only track where I do not have a race card from.
I haven’t been racing in years since I lived near the train station here. I keep trying to gee myself up for it, but then I think about the bus to the train station, train to the town, bus to the course, day actually racing, bus from the course to the train station, train back and probably a taxi home because it’s too dark to take the bus home. It’s a huge amount of hassle and downtime, and with the constraint on time you don’t even get to enjoy a few pints after.
I’ve looked at hotels near the racecourses as well, so you’d arrive day of then come back the day after to spread things out but that’s a huge cost. Then you look at the cards and it’s three maidens with horses with no races under them and the betting/racing proposition isn’t there.
It’s all a huge amount of hassle when I can take one bus, for at most a thirty minute time commitment (10 minute walk, 15 minute wait at most, 5 minutes on the bus) and I’m in the pub supping pints before I know it, with all the racing ready to go, at a minor cost and almost zero hassle.
“I generally avoid weekends and evening meetings nowadays because I do not really like being around groups of men who want to drink 20 pints of lager and then look for a fight, or groups of young women who start screeching after half a glass of prosecco.”
100% THIS.^
Epsom and Sandown were midweek and you don’t tend to get so much boozing at the Points.
I somehow survived Bath yesterday which was packed.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Used to go racing a lot. Was a member of both Goodwood and Newbury and went to all afternoon meetings at Salisbury and Wincanton bar the odd one. Plus the better meetings at Fontwell, an occasional Bath and Ascot, even more occasional Cheltenham. Going racing Twice a week outnumbered one day, seldom zero, often three. Have done six (five at Goodwood followed by Newbury on Sunday). Have done two meetings in one day.Add in between one and five hours in the evenings studying form and time travelling to and from the course. Not easy.
Older I got the harder it became… And towards the end the better value was off course, only an occasional saver on course. Know a bit about conformation, but not enough to base main bets on it. Form is my forte, getting the early value. Harder to react to going changes when on course too. Cost of memberships kept on going up.
Although I loved going racing and meeting my racing pals, it was costing me not only money spent on admission and travel (plus time)… But also in missing betting opportunities. Then there’s the fact I have less time now me and my girlfriend have our first home together.
Value Is Everythingtbh I didn’t do anything else but go from paddock to grandstand to paddock to grandstand, keeping well away from bars and coffee shops. So never got much of a problem from racegoers misbehaving. Ate sandwiches in the car or (if late) smuggled them into the course in my binocular case.
Value Is EverythingPoachers pockets are for hiding sandwiches in…I’m on a really small pension. I can’t afford to go racing and spend an extortionate amount in food.
I was hoping to go racing more often when I retired but my health and Covid scuppered that idea.
Might get to a couple of Newmarket week day meetings this year, if I can get someone to drive me there.
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highwaysSimilar to others I go a lot less now than I used to, I’m more skint than I ever have been and have more outgoings than ever to go with it. Will try and get to Sandown this summer though Ian I’ll give you a shout if I do. Eclipse day would be fun but again like others have stated with the modern crowds Saturday’s aren’t exactly ideal for us racing folk so I prefer the midweek cards too.
Used to go to the Newmarket July meeting at least one day, sometimes all three when it was mid week, only been once since, never again!
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highwaysI used to go to Hamilton a fair bit when I stayed there. I had a good racing mate
and we regularly did the Scottish rounds at Musselburgh, Ayr and Kelso. We ventured
as far as Hexam (coldest day I’ve spent ever) and Newcastle. I always wanted to do
Cheltenham at the Festival, and for the last few years, including the one I probably
shouldn’t have gone to in 2020, but I’d bought my bloody ticket, I went eachh Gold Cup
Day. In hindsight it was a risk too far, as my missus and my boys told me at the time,
but I got back up north unscathed.I always went to the Guiness Stand, although busy it was nowhere near as packed as the
main stand and you could get a bet on at the bookie stands in front of the stand. I had
a wander over there and saw more than a few sockless wonders in tight fitting suits with
a pint in both hands who had as much interest in racing as Mary Whitehouse had in Debbie
Does Dallas (anyone under 60 can google it). The unfortunate sight of a young girl sprawled
out on the steps was enough for me to take refuge back over at the Guiness Stand. If I had
been 30 (well maybe 40) years younger I dare say I would have braved the Guiness Village,
right behind the stand, where decent music and merryment was being had by all but being
packed in like sardines is no longer my thing.They used to do a deal when booking your ticket where you could buy a ticket which got you
into a small restaurant area within the stand for a steak sandwich and a Paddy’s Day cupcake
but that has disappeared now. Damn shame.I hope your health picks up Purwell, I had to miss this year’s Gold Cup through mine. I
hope to get there again next year and hope you manage to get a driver and take in a few
midweek Newmarket meetings
When I used to be a racing journalist, though my role was on the production side in the office, rather than on the track, I had access to a press badge on my days off and initially used to go racing free three days a week and envied those who could go every day as part of a reporting job.
But I soon changed my mind as I found going racing that often killed the magic and novelty of “A Day At The Races.”
Nowadays, apart from Going Pointing which is a different kind of day out altogether tbh, I purposely go racing a lot less than I could, so it retains its magic.
Weekend and evening meetings, I tend to give the swerve to, though I enjoyed a Saturday at Beverley and Ascot Champions’ Day, the latter being only 30 minutes away so daft to miss, last year.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"The expense of getting to a race meeting is an issue. Transport costs are much higher and are set to go higher still.
You can get discounts on train fares if you book far enough in advance but they are still not cheap. I paid the best part of £50 for a return to Cheltenham recently but at least it was off set by having a free ticket into the course.
Then there is the cost of admission. Again you can get discounts if you book early enough but I have little interest in paying over £20 for Flat cards which are nothing more than maiden races and modest handicaps. If I go to a moderate Flat card, it is likely to be Wolverhampton (£10 admission, about £20 return on train, good pub or two on walk from the station to the course).
Someone posted recently that Windsor is noe charging £35 for the paddock enclosure on Monday night. That is much too expensive.
I do not know what Bath or Wetherby charged last Sunday but I hope it was not much. It was one of the worst days of racing in a long time.
Then there is the cost of even something as basic as a cup of tea in the racecourse – but that is a whole other thread!
I suppose racing is not the good value day out it used to be and I pick and choose more carefully now. The changed nature of the crowds is a big factor as well. I used to really enjoy going to Haydock at the weekends and in the evening. Now I would not go anywhere near the place on those days. As for Chester – forget it!
I’m a jumps member at Sandown Kempton and Newbury. Go jumps racing around 35 times a year. Flat only about half a dozen but more this year as interest is reignighted a little
Lucky where I am. Close to Sandown and Kempton with obviously ascot Windsor and epsom half hour away. Newbury Lingfield plumpton easy trips.
Generally I don’t think memberships are expensive at all. Compare with football and cricket perhaps? I’m very near harlequins rugby ground and have a slight interest i; the game … until I enquired about ticket prices. I immediately sounded like a weatherspoons old git in his anorak and crimplene trousers Circa 1972. “How much!”
“I do not know what Bath or Wetherby charged last Sunday”
Bath was a free day but, like Windsor and all ARC tracks, the cost of an individual day at the races is absurd.
They want you to buy an annual badge, and those are pro rata bargains, but I don’t want to go that often.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"I have not been racing in Ireland for three years due to travel restrictions etc but I hope to go again later this year.
In the pre-covid world, meetings were seldom more than €15 for admission (and often as little as €10 if you booked in advance).
The crowds were generally better, even at the bigger meetings. Fewer drunken idiots or hen parties and often they were notable by their absence. More people were there because they were interested in horses and in racing.
When I was at Gowran Park and Tramore, it was a “student day” at both venues. They enjoyed themselves but it is fair to say they were a great deal better behaved than some of the sights I have seen on British racecourses.
Most Irish tracks also provide a good choice of food and drink at non rip off prices. They put plenty of British tracks to shame.
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