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“… granted the weather forecast may have detered a few thousand extra from coming.”
That’s definitely the case, LD. Some of my friends, who aren’t really into racing and didn’t want to pay to get into the stands, were planning on going to the Hill, but the weather forecast put them off. I’m sure there would have been many more people but for the inclement weather prediction.
Thanks Glad for the info .
Maybe I will go to the Derby but the Jump Jockeys one Iam sure they used to have later in season if that’s still a thing .Helcat (apologies for calling you HDLG earlier – I had just woken up and saw a long name beginning with H; that has now been corrected) – the Jump Jockeys’ Derby is held at the mid-September fixture and, again, is a lot quieter than Derby Day itself. It’s being run on 11th September this year – I usually book a day off work to attend that meeting.
The demographic of London has changed so much in recent years with so many having moved far away that I’m not sure we will ever see the masses return to the downs,check out the poor attendances at Kempton & Sandown compared to years ago.
I would move the race back to a Wednesday in half term week and run it at 7pm.
It would create more off course coverage and maybe entice a few more back that way.There is no getting away from the fact the attendances on the Friday and Saturday were awful. OK, the weather played its part on the Saturday – but as was said on “Luck On Sunday” today, walk up customers since 2020 have declined anyway. It can’t be entirely blamed on the weather.
There are clearly lots of issues to consider and there is no one thing which will magically make it right. However, I do believe the make up of the Saturday card has to be changed.
The second race was off at 1.35pm. The Derby was off at 3.30pm. In the best part of 2 hours, there was just under 2 minutes of racing action courtesy of the two Dashes. That is crazy. It simply doesn’t work.
As was also said on Luck’s show today, does there have to be such a long gap after the Derby to the next race and then a 45 minute gap to the following race? The day drags on, I didn’t even bother watching the last race and switched over to SSR for the evening racing instead. I had more interest in the juvenile hurdle at Hexham than an ordinary handicap on soft ground at Epsom.
Luck’s programme also showed some footage of the 1975 and 1990 Derbies (he was interviewing Nicola Eddery and showed two of her father’s victories). Seeing the Hill so full of people and all the open topped buses lining the final furlong was a reminder of what Derby Day used to look like.
The day simply doesn’t have the Wow Factor now. Whether we like it or not, something has got lost somewhere.
Epsom needs to look at what Aintree has done. Back in the 1970s and 80s, Aintree was going nowhere. It was as good as finished. Now it is thriving and the National meeting is a huge part of the Liverpool year, embraced by the community.
Perhaps it is a bit more difficult to create that kind of feeling so close to London. There are many competing attractions and the demographics are different. But Derby Day is punching below its weight and is in danger of becoming if not irrelevant then not particularly distinguished.
I agree with AP that the reaction of the winning connections doesn’t exactly help to sell the occasion. Would it hurt them to try looking just a little bit happy that they have won what is meant to be the Greatest Race In The World?
Compare the Aintree support cards it is littered with Grade 1s and good quality handicaps what does Epsom have, three Group 1s and some none too exciting handicaps. I know where I would rather be.
The more I know the less I understand.
Agree RTB. I think any suggestion of expanding the meeting to three days is crazy. The two days are already thin enough.
Epsom is somewhat limited because the maximum distance is 1m 4f. It is not possible to put on a huge variety of races.
I read some comments elsewhere which noted how a combination of the cost of living crisis and how people have reconsidered their priorities after 2020 might have contributed to the decline in attendance. All fair comment, I think – but I still believe the meeting could be made better, even within the limitations of Epsom.
The first Derby I attended was 2001 when Galileo won. The hill was packed. This was partly due to a concert featuring several big name acts. The stage was on the infield somewhere around the entrance to the home straight and didn’t interfere with the view of the racing.
I suppose a lot of people were there for the concert but at least it created a bit of an atmosphere and made it feel like an occasion. Yesterday felt nothing like that, it was flat and uninspiring.
“I think any suggestion of expanding the meeting to three days is crazy. The two days are already thin enough.”
You do what Cheltenham did: create new races. It’s hardly rocket science.
The bigger issue is that expanding/boosting Epsom runs the risk of detracting from Royal Ascot. Of course, many believe that the Berkshire meeting is bloated in its current form and would prefer a reversion to four days and the return of the Heath fixture on the Saturday.
I miss the Saturday heath fixture but it is never coming back. Just like Cheltenham is never going back to three days.
If going to three days (mental thought personally) then the obvious move is to have the Coronation Cup as the centre piece for the new day, maybe move the 3 year old dash to that day along with the Princess Elizabeth Stakes and one of the races that are run after the Derby and create new 10F Handicap worth £75k or so and chuck in a 7F two year old race with a bonus attached if you go on to win at Royal Ascot to make up a 6 race card?
It would appear the 5 furlong races have to be on the same day because a road has to be closed.
Quite expensive for that many handicaps, isn’t it? It’s not something exclusive, just look at the article below:
It doesn’t look great, does it?
I expect there will be more people at both Chester and York next Saturday, where the feature race at the latter is a 6 furlong handicap.
Is there any indication of the time at which that photo was taken? The whole place started emptying out pretty quickly once the heavens opened, especially as the big race had already been run.
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