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The car park I go too is £12 for 24 hours so I get there mega early to avoid traffic and leave mega late to avoid traffic
Not so easy to avoid the crowds on course. I did find a quiet spot in line with the final bend on the old course which was pleasant watching the horses go to post until two young lads with about half a furlong to stand between me and the next person chose to stand 2 metres away from me. They took a selfie and one who didn’t own the camera kept saying “delete it, I look awful, delete it” for the whole race whilst trying to take the phone off the other lad, neither watching the race
Then they asked me who won the race? Jazzy Matty I said. Then one of them was nearly in tears telling his friend off saying “I was going to back that, you said it had no chance”oh do please **** off !!
Charles Darwin to conquer the World
Last time I went (2021) there was still a free raceday car park in operation at Ascot for Champions Day, situated just off Ascot High Street, about a furlong from the main exit.
There was that vague feeling of being in a war zone, as one dodged the drunken Peaky Blinders wannabes starting scuffles as they too exited the track after racing, making one feel like an asylum seeker as one drove back over the border from Berkshire to Hampshire on one’s way home, but one cannot knock a freebie car park and afaik none of the fleeing refugees after the Balmoral Handicap ended up in Rwanda.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"When I query the expense of Cheltenham it is only because I think it is poor value when compared to other meetings. Aside from Aintree, there are several other fixtures which offer top class racing at far better prices. And I personally find midweek fixtures at smaller tracks far more enjoyable.
I am hoping to go to Cheltenham in April because I can get a free ticket via the RTV membership. It is a much quieter meeting and far more pleasant. But I still have the cost of train tickets to consider, which are not cheap even if you book in advance.
Taking into account train fares, admission prices and other expenses, if I went to the festival I expect I would be well over £200 down before I even had a bet. Even more than that if I was doing an overnight stay somewhere. It is not worth it.
I am not totally put off by high admission prices. I am going to a practice day and two competition days at this year’s Open Championship in July. The tickets cost £220 altogether. But I can get to Hoylake in about 40 minutes for just a few pounds train fare and at least the event is spread out over a large course where you can find a few relatively quiet areas. The large crowd in a fairly small area at Cheltenham makes no appeal, especially when the Guinness starts doing the talking later in the afternoon!
Guinness being £6 a pint – HOW MUCH!!!!?
£7.50p at “the Fez.” – HOW MUCH!!!?
Even in cheaper big cities £5 – HOW MUCH!!!?
I recently paid £5.10 for a pint of Timothy Taylor Landlord – HOW MUCH!!!?
only £4.50 just down the road in the Roscoe Head – HOW MUCH!!!?
The car park I go too is £12 for 24 hours – HOW MUCH!!!?
The tickets cost £220 altogether. – HOW MUCH!!!?
I don’t drink alcohol, so honest question: can you buy cans of this stuff that looks a tiny bit like dandelion & burdock (but disappointingly doesn’t taste anything like it at all) in bottle or can form in supermarkets and, if so, how much is a pint of it bought that way please?
And how does drinking it that way compare to the apparently premium opportunity to just empty your wallet into Jockey Club Racing’s coffers by buying it at a racecourse bar?
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"Ticket was free with rewards for racing points – HOW MUCH!!!?
FREE…..
Charles Darwin to conquer the World
Epsom, Tuesday 25th April, historic card – Indigenous Handicap, City & Suburban, Great Metropolitan, Blue Riband Trial – £10 access all areas for advance ticket.
FREE with R4R.
But what about travel expenses there and back?
Hughesey will give you a piggyback there and back for a bag of Pickled Onion Space Raiders.
And how much is a bag of those?
HOW MUCH??!!
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"a bag of 6 is £1.50 up from £1
I’ve told my boy to eat half a packet put a clothes peg on to seal packet and finish packet off the next day..
trouble is there are only about 5 crisps in said packet..Charles Darwin to conquer the World
Looks like you can get it for about £1.40 a 440 ml can – pack of 24. Not sure if it tastes any better but it is draught. You can drink it out of glass rather than plastic but doubt you will get a clover in the head from a can
Thank you, Mr Simpson.
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"Greg Woods’s take in “The Guardian”. Some good comments below the line as well:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/mar/18/cheltenham-crowds-constitution-hill-galopin-des-champs
“Everybody on here is interested in horse racing, why don’t you go?”
Can’t quite swim that far, I’m afraid.
“Can’t quite swim that far, I’m afraid.”
Ah but……….these days they have these wonderful things called aeroplanes and they fly from a convenient airport near you. Honest!
On a more serious note, you of all people would gain the most out of a visit to the Cheltenham Festival. It’s so far removed from what you would be used to. An atmosphere exploding with passion and excitement………….and fortunately for all, no Beyonce required!!!
If you have a bucket list, then I’d suggest the Cheltenham Festival as an addition if you can.
It’s just a foul experience when you weigh it all up!
I used to go on an organised coach trip from a small Derbyshire town. This year it was £90 for the Tuesday. That included a large fry up in a pub beforehand, coach travel and a ticket for the best mate stand.
The problem with the best mate stand is that apart from when they swing round the bend in front of you, your view of the racing is pretty crap and unless you want to park yourself by the rail twenty minutes before each race you have to watch it on the big screen behind the stand. That’s not really why I’m there and defeats the point of being there.
If the weather is crap like it was last year on the Wednesday there’s no chance of avoiding it unless you want to spend your day in the beer tent. Again not really why I’m there.
The cost of the beer in the beer tent is absolutely outrageous and that really annoys me.
There’s just a sense of it being an absolute rip off and nobody likes that.
On the contrary I’ve booked a couple of nights in a hotel in Dublin for the punchestown festival next month. Paid a couple of hundred quid each for me and mrs cider to have a table in the course facing restaurant for a 4 course meal, table service and reasonably priced drinks.
It’s a value for money thing. And Cheltenham can dress it up all they like! Train strikes, cost of living crisis. Load of hot air! People are wising up to the fact they’re being shafted!
“couple of nights in a hotel in Dublin for the punchestown festival next month. Paid a couple of hundred quid each for me and mrs cider to have a table in the course facing restaurant for a 4 course meal”
Sounds like excellent value for money and a cracking experience ahead – just a shame that in 2023 you literally have to fly out of “Rip-Off Britain” to get it.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"It is Ian. But the more people that continue to look elsewhere and turn their back on those 4 days in March the harder Cheltenham will have to work to draw the genuine racing fan back in!
The irony of it all is that it’s the genuine racing fan who’s more likely to have more disposable income than the lads and lasses in their 20’s who are just looking to get bladdered.
The exodus has begun and it’s gathering pace! I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s complimentary biscuits on our table! It’s the little touches that make the big difference!
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