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£5.30 for lager, £5.90 for Guinness. Not bad but I will go to one or two of Worcester’s pubs instead.
Burgers range from £5 to £9 and make no appeal at all. How can anyone eat them?
I enjoyed it at Worcester today. I had a very modest bet on the winner of the first race and was happy just to watch after that.
On the good side:
At £20, I thought it was very good value. With the bumper being divided, it meant it was an eight race card. You cannot complain at just £2.50 a race.
It is a good viewing track. I also liked it how the run in was right up against the enclosures, so you felt you were close to the action. It was possible to stand quite near to the finishing line, which was good.
As ID mentioned earlier, the racecourse is in a nice setting. You can see the Cathedral (which I visited before racing) and you can see the River Severn flowing along behind the course. It is easy to see why they have given up racing in the winter. I expect the track is often flooded, like the near by cricket ground.
There was a fair sized crowd in attendance. Enough to give it an atmosphere but not too many to make it feel crowded. Being in midweek, it meant that the “Let’s Drink 20 pints of lager” and “Let’s start screaming after half a glass of prosecco” crowd were absent.
I am not usually a fan of paddock commentators but if there has to be one, Cornelius Lysaght is a good choice. Well informed and not obtrusive, unlike some of them.
On the down side: the track does look a bit shabby. There is only one stand which, while not dilapidated, is not exactly pristine either. Some of the out buildings look a bit run down. And how difficult would it be to put some seats around the paddock?
The main criticism is the abysmal catering. I was not expecting it to be good, so I took my own food with me. But greasy burgers and unappetising pies and nothing else is not good enough. I think of the excellent food you can get on Irish racecourses. They put their British counterparts to shame.
To be fair, the prices for food and drink were not unreasonable compared to some tracks I could mention. But there is no getting away from the fact that the food offerings were poor. There was not even an ice cream van on the track. How can you get through a day without ice cream!!
However, I thought that overall it was a good day out. Even the weather, which was not great in the morning, cleared up and became quite pleasant during the racing.
How much?! I’m taking my bucket of coppers to Spoons.
But seriously, sounds like a pleasant afternoon. I get the feeling the course is much like Newton Abbot, although perhaps in a slightly nicer town.
A lot of people don’t like Worcester – ARC have let the place get really run down and I know a guy who lives literally across the road from the track and despises the place.
But as CAS says, it’s situated on the edge of a cathedral city, next to the River Severn, there’s that bridge at the City End and I’m always taken back in time whenever I visit (which isn’t often as it’s two hours drive away).
Back in the day race cards, Flat or Jumps used to focus on variety for the racegoer.
Each race would be a flit from one distance e to another, from Hurdles to Chases or back.
Now it’s all about convenience fir those putting on the “Show,” such as if is.
Right, get all the Chases out the way, shift the fences. Any bumpers? Right, get the hurdles in for the remaining races.
Same on the Flat – get the sprints in, get the mile races in, get the longer ones in, as little stall movement as possible.
A Day At The Races has lost something there, I feel.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"I do not remember the hurdles and fences being on the same track at Worcester before. It looked to me as though they were saving some of the ground for later in the season. There are five meetings coming up in June and they might want fresh ground for them.
I am not really that interested in bumpers and seldom bet in them, so two bumpers in the middle of the card was a bit disappointing. No more chases after the second race was not ideal either.
I might go to Aintree tonight although the card is not that inspiring. I also intend to have a trip to Bangor on Dee soon. Another track I have not visited for years.
Worcester used to have separate Chase and Hurdles tracks with permanent obstacles.
Nowadays it’s all portable obstacles using the same terrain to race on, though they might vary the racing line a bit during the season so every horse isn’t hammering the same stretch of ground at every meeting.
Here’s a clip of what Worcester used to look like back in the day….
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Thanks for posting the clip – that was a great watch.
Panto Prince is still one of the very best jumpers of a fence I have ever seen. Maybe the very best.
Looking up his record, he went on to win his next two races as well (both at Wincanton).
I had completely forgotten about the BBC showing Worcester.
One track which I have completely forgotten about how it looked is Southwell before the all weather track was built. As I recall, it was only a small jumps track with not many meetings. I cannot ever remember seeing it on SIS in the bookies and I doubt the BBC or C4 cameras ever went there in those days. Going right back in time, it was the track where Golden Miller made his debut!
You’re welcome, CAS, as always.
I only went to Southwell once.
It was 1987 and my memory was that the third last was a bit like The Canal Turn inasmuch as there was a sharp left-handed turn just after it.
I sometimes trawl YouTube for footage to confirm or dispel this recollection but have never found any.
A horse called Outlaw run that day.
He had been 17 lengths fourth to Dan The Millar in a decent 2m Novice Chase at the Grand National meeting and was quickly back in a novices handicap chase off an unchanged mark as it was a three-week entry system in those days.
Got 4/1 and he ended up 5/2 and won comfortably.
Easy game back then!
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"I have only ever been to Southwell once as well. It was for a jumps meeting but on the new track inside the Fibresand track (as it was then).
It was quite a good meeting because it was the Great Yorkshire Chase on loan from Doncaster when it was closed while the new grandstand was being constructed.
Not sure why the Great Yorkshire could not have been run at either Wetherby or Catterick instead, the clue being in the name.
Perhaps not quite as bad as the day when Master Oats won the Welsh Grand National – at Newbury!
The Scilly Isles Novices Chase has NEVER taken place on a small archipelago southwest of Cornwall.
I’ll get my coat.
I wonder why Worcester gave up the Flat back in the 1960s? It strikes me as being a track where Flat racing would work quite well.
“The Scilly Isles Novices Chase has NEVER taken place on a small archipelago southwest of Cornwall.”
Imagine my disappointment when I tuned in to watch the Everest.
“The Scilly Isles Novices Chase has NEVER taken place on a small archipelago southwest of Cornwall.”
That’s just silly (can you grab my coat too while you’re in the cloakroom? Thanks)
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"“Imagine my disappointment when I tuned in to watch the Everest.”
Not as disappointed as I was when I discovered that, not only does The Derby have no meaningful link to Brian Clough, but that the Oaks isn’t run around a clump of trees.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"I don’t think many people realise what an incredibly posh place Southwell. No way could I afford to live there apart from at the workhouse.
I don’t remember the place tbh, only the racecourse and the car park.
It was in the middle of nowhere, that’s for sure.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"
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