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Definitely not bad for the industry and Irish Punters but is an even lesser standard than Whitbread Gold Cup Day at Sandown, mixed card.
You don’t get many decent English raiders there.
We barely get any English Raiders for any Races….the only one is Mark Johnston for the flat. Their is plenty of average races being run in Ireland every year with massive prizemoney yet the English still don’t come over. Personally i am surprised as British Prizemoney is a complete and utter farce for majority of meetings and only going to get worse.
The HRI are arm wrestling to get new funding legal issues from bookmakers asap. If irish racing can get through the past few years and the next few years and then get the funding issue right. Breeding still continues apace the scene will be in rude health and then allow for some much needed investment across all racetracks
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Wow! Some really silly posts here. I think some people forget the one of the attractions of horse racing is entertainment. Although the racing is not "top class", the prize money is a street ahead of most meetings in these islands.
JohnJ
Agreed
How anybody can see Galway as being bad for racing is beyond me
Definitely not bad for the industry and Irish Punters but is an even lesser standard than Whitbread Gold Cup Day at Sandown, mixed card.
You don’t get many decent English raiders there.
Am I missing something??? Barely any runners?
Ian Williams, Paul Nicholls,Mark Johnston, Richard Fahey, Nicky Henderson, Donald McCain,Michael Schudamore,Evan Williams all with runners there this week…..
Im not disputing that the standard aint great. Im commending the organisers for creating such a big festival out of it… Yet some people like B27 seem to think that using alternative features other than racing to attract people to the races is a bad thing…. I just cant see how that can be..
In fairness, there is a hell of a lot more meetings in the UK, which is probably the reason the prize money is not as good. Ian Williams brought Invisible Man over to win doing hand stands yesterday.
JohnJ
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Whilst the mixed card aproach doesnt seem to work in the UK it clearly does in Ireland, it caters for all tastes and doesn’t limit its target audience. Perhaps the BHB need to have another look at how they approach it.
In 2009 average attendances in Ireland were as folows;
Flat: 2,816
NHN: 3,292
Mixed: 5,513
Admittidely mixed cards usually take place during the summer and therefore better weather but so too does the flat so all in all mixed cards in this country do seem to work.
Most interesting of all, The Curragh which hosts all of Irelands classics has an average attendance of 5,511, less than that of mixed (even if only by 2, but still less) therefore proving that quality racing alone does not attract the crowds…
Racegoers want more than quality racing..
Well done Galway
The crowds at the Curragh are always very very poor.
But what can do you expect from truly shocking faclities
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Whilst I would like to see the facilities improved I dont think its that relevant.
For example Listowel has average attendances of 9,484 and in no way can claim to have racing of the same standard that is held at the Curragh.
Ive been to Listowel and the facilities are probably on a par to those at The Curragh.
Even Laytown, yes Laytown has attendances higher than that of The Curragh – Laytown doesnt even have facilities, its a beach but yet on average attracts over 1000 more racegoers per meeting than the Curragh does…
All this proves that although its good to watch quality racing on tv it doesnt seem to really count as far as racegoers are concerned and if you want to get people through the gates you are better off concentrating on the attractions going on in and around the racecourse rather than getting the status "Group one" on the racecard…
Obviously we all like quality but it doesnt seme to be that important to the people who pay to go..
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To bhigg27 and those of you who seem to think its an Irish thing;
Cartmel has higher average attendances (9,364) to those of Haydock (5,950), Newbury (7,078),Newmarket (8,920), Epsom (8,075), Sandown (5,787) and Doncaster (5,910).
Now ask yourself which course hosts the better standard of racing, Cartmel or the above mentioned courses?????
Quality doesnt attract racegoers as much as the raceday experience itself, its very obvious….
The Curragh is just lifeless though….its like a big vacumn or something. Even if i live basically beside it i still think i rather go to Naas and that is saying something
Ive never been to the Curragh but Even watching it on the box, it looks terrible, no atmosphere whatsoever.
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Yes that is true.
I think it proves my point, people are more interested in a good day rather than a race card with the name Group one on it…
If Im honest I think the whole purpose of the Curragh is just to host another classic from which the breeding operation will benefit from. I don’t think they are too pushed from attendance figures, well if they are they are not doing anything to promote it….
Around 55,000 attended the first 3 days and 2 of them where night meetings. They should well smash the 100k barrier easily.
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Around 55,000 attended the first 3 days and 2 of them where night meetings. They should well smash the 100k barrier easily.
Without doubt, the big social day is tomorow for Ladies day, it has always been the biggest day of the week
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Galway has an official facebook page with over 23,000 fans.
Goodwood doesn’t even have a facebook page.
Now I am no marketing expert but I do know that connecting with your customer new and old is imperative to any business. The fact that Goodwood do not have a presence on facebook in a highly competivie sport/hospitatlity/leisure sector really is dissapointing.
What hope for British horse racing in attracting new young racegoers if they don’t even bother to use the number one marketing tool in the world.
Facebook announced the other day that it now has 500,000,000 users. Goodwood don’t even have a page.
Brilliant….. well done Goodwood.
Ive never been to the Curragh but Even watching it on the box, it looks terrible, no atmosphere whatsoever.
It depends what day you go Matthew, much the same as any racing venue. I was there on the Saturday before the derby and there was a really good atmosphere, the facilities are not great, however, the quality of racing is very good.
JohnJ
Galway is an excuse for a piss up rather than a racing festival. Christy Moore’s ‘Ballad Of Ruby Walsh’ sums it up perfectly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxRS6cgwZiU&feature=related
There’s fine talent around if you’re going on the pull but the standard of fillies & mares on the track itself if middling to say the least.
Much prefer Listowel myself. I do wish they’d go back to four/five days though.
Robert,
If you are referring to my post about the Curragh, the quality of the racing would be the standard of the cards it holds throughout the year, all 5 classic races are held at the Curragh along with many Group and listed races, it consistently attracts top quality horses, which in turn means top quality racing.
JohnJ
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