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Kevin , fair dues you make your point well and I agree  it cant be all bad when some corporate people come back
but !!!
How about , 70 quid , 40 quid and 25 quid for cheltenham , good old edward and chums have decided the market is right for a 5 quid increase on what is already the most expensive days  racing in the Uk , I ask you this . will you pay it ???
<br>as always we can agree to disagree :biggrin:
Ricky <br>
£25 to be crammed into the Fosters Enclosure is not my idea of value, no matter what the quality of the racing. Let’s face it, most watch the race on the diamond vision screen in there anyway. I love going to the festival, but the better value is now to watch the festival on TV and go to the Thomas Pink (?) or the spring evening hunters meeting.<br>I stopped going to the festival when the Guinness topped £4 per pint and a cheap poly cup of coffee hit £1.70.<br>There are better ways to enjoy racing of that quality, and it certainly isn’t being herded into a second rate enclosure, with toilets that smell like a latrine in no-mans land, for more than it costs to enter the brand spanking new grandstand and paddock for Champions Day at Newmarket.
Ricky, next year I probably will.
Value is subjective. While it may not appeal to you you will find that it will be packed as usual despite the price increases. Its Market forces.
Planning to go to Cheltenham festival for the first time next year. I have no idea of the prices. Think I will give the Fosters Enclosure a miss now though.
I wouldn’t want to put ou off Kevin, i’ve been in there several times since 1993. It cost a tenner back then, the last time I went to see Looks Like Trouble win it was £18 if I remember rightly. It was OK for an economical day at the races, but £25 is simply too much money for a ‘silver ring’ entrance fee IMO. Plus a fiver to park the car in a boggy field!
Kevin, it appears that you are in for an experience in being fleeced.
I used to go to the Festival meeting every day of every year, until one day I asked myself, "What the hell am I paying all this money for?"
I was paying a hefty amount for my tickets, but if I left the stands for a bet or to see the horses in the parade ring, I couldn’t get back into the stands at race time. Getting a bet on was fun, but an ordeal and moving around in general was slow and uncomfortable.
The facilities were crap and the prices excessive and could in no way be described as value. I’m not sure what Cheltenham charge a vendor for a pitch, but if the entrance fee is anything to go by, a lot and therefore that may in some way reflect in the pricing.
I concluded that all I was really paying for, was the unique atmosphere and for me, that was second to none. At that time I could watch the racing on the TV in comfort and then pick up the remainder of the races in the bookies and that with all things considered, seemed to be the best option.
Moving on in time, I can now watch some first class racing here at Woodbine, including a card with a 2 million and one million dollar races, totally free of charge. The facilities are excellent, no overcrowding, no partitioning of enclosures, a good choice of well priced food and drink, free tarmac parking, air conditioned viewing and ample seats at various levels at no extra charge.
The downside is as Conal points out, no guarantee of price. That’s not as important to me as it would be to some on here, but still a little frustrating when I do have a bet.
Having been away from your racing for a while now, I shudder when I convert the entrance charges to the local currency and shake my head when some of you ‘happily’ accept it. In my mind, the bookmakers have been milking the industry for years now and nobody seems to care.
A Tote system would benefit racing so much, but is unlikely to happen. I haven’t experienced the Aussie system, but it seems a very worthwhile approach.
<br>
Perfectly put Griff. I think I’d pay 75 quid NOT to go to Cheltenham – for all the reasons you mention. If you’re interested at all in the racing rather than in the alleged craic you wind up watching it on TV anyway.<br> Once it was necessary to go if you just couldn’t stand the C4 personnel. But RUK’s put an end to that problem.
Whoa Whoa hold on there
At the risk of getting sentimental and misty eyed about the Festival – i feel the need to balance the books somewhat.
Ok the facilities are lacking and it is over priced – but for me it is the now four best days of my year without question and the best and bravest horses in the world plus the unrivalled atmosphere is worth every penny
<br>Also people have to be realis that Cheltenham is the RHT flagship and the Festival in essence provides the financial backing required to ensure that other RHT racecourses actually survive –
conall , please  allow me to say that you are talking a load of nonsense(will I be ejected ???) like Griff , I used to go year in ;) and year out , but ;) in 2001 , I finally cried enough , I could not get from pre  parade to parade to betting ring , tote was impossible , and I could not ge:biggrin:  to use the toilets when i wanted to .:biggrin: :biggrin:
So I had a word with myself amd left , as for RHT they are just a load of money grabbers , and they will reap what they are sowing now in time , as the present crop of young people who occasionally go racing want more facilities , not less .and thats where it will come unstuck
No offence old chap , its just a rip off , as for unique atmosphere , maybe !!!, but how about the possiblity of the Irish lads saying this is becoming too expensive , what then for Eddie and his chums ???
R
Thank god I now only go racing in the US and France.
£65 for the 1st 3 days £80 for Gold Cup day for Members. They are apparently only 12,000 down, at the same point, on last year.
Personally I’ll stick with Saratoga. Whatever you think of American racing-and Saratoga’s the best there is-I can get 7 Club House passes for the whole meet as I could go to Cheltenham for 4 days.
It’s great racing, an unrivalled occasion and it’s fantastic to be there but those prices are unacceptable. I guess they’ll say that if they sell all the tickets then their decision is justified commercially but you do get the feeling that they’ve set out, subconsciously perhaps, to fleece their customer base for as much as they feel they can possibly extract.
I think, if you looked closely at the whites of the eyes of a few in the Cheltenham executive, you’d see the pound signs spinning in the manner we’re accustomed to seeing when cartoon figures spot a money making opportunity.
The golden eggs are still being laid but I’m just a little concerned that the last five years have seen them lose sight of the goose a little.
She might just waddle away for good one of these days.
<br>Cormack,
I don’t think it’s subconcious at all, but calculated. They have two main types of customer – the corporate jolly, who comes for one day, doesn’t pay for his ticket himself and for whom the admission price is lost in the overall cost anyway – and the four day diehard who has travel and accomodation costs to cover as well and again the admission charge is rather lost as part of the overall cost of the week.
It would be interesting to hear from any TRF members in Ireland who make the trip every year as to what percentage of their expected total spend goes on the admission – and whether they are sufficiently dismayed by the 2007 prices to be deterred from coming over.
For myself, who lives within driving distance of Cheltenham, I stopped going several years ago after fifteen years of not missing a day. As an annual member, my costs approximately tripled in that fifteen year period. In particular a reserved seat in the main stand went up from £35 to £105 (that’s on top of the annual badge cost) and I know that price has at least doubled again since.
But it was mostly the discomfort of the crowd and the pain of the journey that resulted that caused me to give up and settle for the TV. Hard to believe now but my diary entry for a festival in the early 80’s reports a crowd of less than 20,000 on the first day and only 35,000 for the Gold Cup.
Mind you it’s the same everywhere – how do you measure £65 for Champion Hurdle day against £30 for an ordinary evening meeting at Newmarket followed by an hour of INXS, which is the first group due on next year.
AP
Its a similar story in a number of other sports, notably football and cricket. £80-£100 to watch a mediocre one day side such as England is unacceptable.
Always a balance between squeezing as much as you possibly can out of a sport in the short term (that is keep increasing the prices until you see attendances start to drop) or trying to encourage the casual racegoer or the younger generation to attend.
If the prices keep going up and up, the committed hardcore of race goers will still pay but in 20, 30 or 40 years time, when they’ve passed on, who will take their place? Do prices like these encourage the casual racegoer or the youngster to give Cheltenham a try?
<br>
Without defending cricket prices I havent seen any £80-100 tickets for England one dayers anywhere…
Maybe there are a handful, but highest ive seen is £65 at Lords. Still too much…
There is a trend towards fleecing customers for the big events but these events are so often ruined by the corporate/drunkenidiot brigade. For me Royal Ascot is the vilest event in the whole sporting calender
Tingle Creek, AON chase, Coral eclipse, QE11 at ascot….these are type of events that are still good value and far more enjoyable
You may be right Clivex, now I come to think of it, I think it was the Test tickets that were in the £80 region. I’m fairly sure the one-dayer at Edgbaston this year was over £70.
I don’t pay for them myself otherwise frankly I wouldn’t go. (Similar drunken culture to that you mention at Ascot)
(Edited by Aranalde at 12:37 pm on Dec. 22, 2006)
The Cheltenham executive are clearly up on their micro-economics.
Cheltenham tickets are Giffen goods, where demand increases in line with increased price as consumers attach their own added value to ownership of the ticket. (Snob/exclusivity value, or "I was there" value). They’ll rise next year too.
I have to agree with Pengamon. American horse racing is THE best sporting value available. It’s unbelievable, like paying two and six to see your local football team donkeys back. In some cases, (Delaware Park), it’s free.
Quote: from Maxilon 5 on 1:20 pm on Dec. 22, 2006[br]The Cheltenham executive are clearly up on their micro-economics. ÂÂÂ
Cheltenham tickets are Giffen goods, where demand increases in line with increased price as consumers attach their own added value to ownership of the ticket. (Snob/exclusivity value, or "I was there" value).  They’ll rise next year too.
I have to agree with Pengamon. American horse racing is THE best sporting value available. It’s unbelievable, like paying two and six to see your local football team donkeys back. In some cases, (Delaware Park), it’s free.
There are a lot of American tracks that I would actually need to be given money to go to-after visiting once for the novelty value-Delaware Park isn’t one of them. The racing is good and you never know if you’re going to go there and see a top class horse making their debut-Afleet Alex and Barbaro both started there.
I guess there is a price that i’m prepared to pay to a British track in order to have the ability to duel with the on-course bookmakers but it isn’t the £80 Cheltenham wants, whatever Royal Ascot wants now and whatever priced Newmarket wanted to share the racecourse with a load of drunken hoodlums on 2000 Guineas day-which was the last day I set foot on a British racecourse-with the exception of a free day on July Cup day.
Selling my house in Newmarket and buying a shoebox in Saratoga is the best thing i’ve ever done-and the £ gained 5 cents against the $ in the week before the deal closed!
I saw Collier Hill win the G1 Canadian International, Arravale win the G1 EP Taylor Stakes and on the card was the G2 Neartic Stakes.
I didn’t pay a dime to get in and neither did anybody else. This is the same for any other day of the year and no car parking charges, although valet parking is $8!!!
Excellent facilities, a whole range of food and beverages and no charge for ample seating.
Like apracing, I was a dedicated Festival attendee, until I saw the light that was. Overcrowding, p**s
poor service and choice, crap conditions and disgusting washrooms even before the first race was underway……………..that’s when you finally manage to get in there. Sure it’s got the atmosphere and is the best race meeting in the world, but you’re ripped off for it, as you are with racing in general.<br>
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