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Some of you may recall I made some observations on a visit to the Saturday 2000 Guineas in 2019. Having decided that was overcrowded I gave this year’s innovation, the Friday meeting a go. Attendance was around 6000, which was a lot less than Saturday, and there was space to move around comfortably and get served easily without tripping over people the worse for wear. The weather was a bit cloudy and the overall atmosphere a bit flat but overall I found it a better experience than last time.
Here are some musings on the day.1. Pre-marketing could be better. I bought early bird premier enclosure tickets that were very good value for a day out compared with say Wimbledon or a top football match, but there was no indication on the website of what the races would be. However, I correctly guessed a few of the stakes races from Saturday and Sunday would be transferred to the Friday.
2. Parking was easy and free. There is a confusing sign that says Premier Parking £10, but apparently this is nothing to do with premier tickets. Because I had visited before I knew we could go direct to the premier entrance, but signage was not obvious and so I would expect many premier ticket holders would go in by the main entrance.
3. Even with a premier ticket one feels a bit like a second class citizen as many areas are reserved for annual badge holders, owners, trainers, or people who have paid for an expensive hospitality package. Some of the premier grandstand seats had reserved notices on them, which was a bit strange, but on the day there were plenty of empty seats anyway. The premier restaurant has now been allocated to owners and trainers. There is an exclusive premier food court which might have been nice if the weather had been sunnier, but was virtually empty and didn’t appear to offer much that wasn’t available from food stands elsewhere. We ate in the Frankel Lounge, where we were able to walk up and get a table straightaway. Unfortunately, after the food was served, I started to choke on a piece of bread, but there was an amazing response from the staff and an almost instant appearance of two paramedics from St John’s ambulance. My throat did clear on its own but they checked me over and took me to the nearest doctor, who was in the jockeys’ pavilion. The pavilion is not open to the public and rather sumptuous, with a thick red rug at the entrance. There were about 8 unoccupied medics in the emergency room, and they were almost pleased to have something to do, so it was a much more pleasant experience than turning up at a hospital A&E.
4. Between races, as studying the parade ring wasn’t our thing, there wasn’t much to do. We bought a tea towel in the museum shop and saw a racehorse that is being retrained at dressage. There is a set of historical explainer boards at the back of the grandstand which is quite interesting. However, it wouldn’t take much effort to put a few more information boards up in appropriate places e.g. this is what to look for in the parade ring, these are the betting choices (Tote-now with BOG, bookmakers in the ring, bookmakers outside the ring, William Hill shop, Betfair on your mobile).
5. An attempt to buy a cup of coffee in the Millennium Bar initially failed. I was directed downstairs to “Costa Coffee on the first floor” but access to the first floor was off limits for premier badgeholders. I was redirected to the ground floor where nobody knew where Costa Coffee was, so I went to a kiosk instead.
6. The racing itself was enjoyable. There were surprisingly small fields considering reasonable prize money and a convenient location for many trainers. My focus was on the stakes races. Without Gingertipster to guide me, I looked up the Simon Rowlands commentary. I had been looking forward to seeing New London in the Newmarket Stakes, which is arguably a Derby trial, but he was a non-runner. Rowlands had tipped Subastar at 5-1 on the basis of stride pattern but he was much shorter than that on the day, so I had a small bet on Nations Pride who won easily. In the King Charles II 7f Simon had tipped Gubbass but I went to the ring when I saw from the grandstand Noble Truth drift out to 10/3 (apparently nobody uses 100/30 anymore). Unfortunately by the time I got there he had gone into about 9/4 so I did put my fiver on Gubbass at 2-1. Noble Truth won easily. In the main race, the Jockey Club stakes, I had expected Yibir to open at about 4/9 and had prepared my bold bid to ask for 45/100 to get the fractions before producing my tenner. However, despite being about 4/9 antepost he opened at 1/4 and stayed there. When the big screen flashed up Outbox at 12/1 I got excited about a bad each way bet but the ring price was about 8 or 9-1 for each way so I didn’t bet in the end, which was fortunate as it turned out. Yibir apparently was keen at the start, although I didn’t notice, and finished a tame second to Living Legend. With hindsight, perhaps William Buick would have been better off letting Yibir use his excess energy to grab a big lead. It would have meant running inefficiently but better than wasting energy being restrained. I suppose one problem with my alternative strategy is that you do look a bit silly if you do go off too fast and fade at the end, whereas holding the horse up is less obviously wrong if it doesn’t work. Anyway the big mystery is why was Yibir 1/4 at all? Maybe he was bigger ante post because of a danger of non-running.
7. There doesn’t seem to be any restriction on using your phone to bet. Betfair’s name was all over the racecard and course. I don’t really see how the ring makes a living nowadays, especially now the Tote is more competitive with its BOG. From the grandstand I didn’t see many people transacting, and I think some of the bookies are there just out of habit. I was surprised when I noticed many of them don’t even bother to watch the races. You’d think if they’re doing it for the love of the job rather than the money they’d watch the horses, and if they’re being professional they might want to take a view on stewards’ enquiries etc.So a bit of unexpected medical drama, and a bit of head scratching about where odds come from and what bookmakers do for a living. I probably won’t go the Rowley course again, and will try the July course next time. However, although it dilutes the average quality of the racing, I think the 3 day Guineas festival is a good idea just to offer the choice of a quieter day if people want it.
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