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Have to agree with you there, Helcat: from a purely selfish perspective, the fewer tanked-up oiks to wade through, the more enjoyable the raceday experience. I never used to miss the festival, but didn’t go this year. Given the reduced numbers, maybe I should have done so.
“Is it purely down to the cost of travel and accommodation?
Or are punters not satisfied with the product anymore?
Or did interest in Cheltenham reach its peak and all we are seeing now is an inevitable tailing off?”I think it’s a combination of all of those CAS, which Cheltenham have not taken into account and have now killed the goose that laid their golden eggs, or at least strangled it into submission as they have tried to drain every last shilling out of their customers.
They have appeared to focus on increasing ticket prices as much as they can, but I don’t think they have factored in the full cost of a day at the festival. Travel, food and drink, accommodation, crowd size have all increased substantially as well as ticket prices.
In my opinion, although there are many possible reasons, the main two would be ‘value for money’ (incorporating all costs) and race quality.
I believe extending it to four days started the rot (and heaven forbid the greedy buggers tried for five!!). Many of the additional races didn’t add to the quality of the event, but probably did add to the bookies satchels.
The additional races also allowed trainers to diversify with their best horses, which then brought about too many heavy odds-on favourites in Graded races. It’s always nice to see these horses, but not in one horse races and certainly not in Championship events.I don’t blame the trainers, they have to do what is best for their owners, so dropping Lossiemouth into the Mare’s instead of the Champion Hurdle was probably the best decision at the time. The point is, Willie Mullins shouldn’t have had the option.
I’d be interested to know what the numbers are for odds on favourites in Festival races when a three day event compared to four days. If racing and betting isn’t competitive, then punters will lose interest and they’ll bet from the comfort of their own home.
What did surprise me this year was the vacant space around the winners enclosure when the horses came in.
Has there been a gradual change of the type of attendee?
I strongly believe that a lot of genuine, knowledgeable racing enthusiasts have simply stopped going and the people who go now are more ‘once a year’ or casual punters.
The genuine racegoers obviously have a deeper interest in more than just the winner and I suspect that even though their particular choice didn’t win, they would still like to see and appreciate the horses and try to see them in the winners enclosure.I wonder if today, many attending just simply choose a horse, watch the race and then win or lose, move onto the next race containing another list of unfamiliar horses names.
In days of olde, the parade ring before a race and the winners enclosure would be packed out, which leads me to believe that there is generally a different type of customer attending these days and Cheltenham with their Corporate greed, have lost a lot of their core clientele and replaced them with, ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ customers.
Griff,
Go back 30 years to 1995, when I was an annual member and attended every day. There were 20 races in total, six on Tuesday then seven the other two days.
In 1995, there were no odds on favourites and only two horses started shorter than 9/4. They were Harcon in the Sun Alliance Chase at 6/4 and Elegant Lord in the Foxhunters at 13/8. Both Irish trained, both beaten.
And only one of those 20 races failed to deliver a double figure field – only 8 turned out in the Grand Annual. In other words. each way betting to three places (or more) in every race.
I chose 1995 as that was the year we had a fourth day on the Friday, to compensate annual members for the loss of the two day April meeting as the course would be closed for major building work. That was a six race card, again with at least 8 runners in every race and only one horse started shorter than 5/2. That was Cab On Target, who finished second at 4/6 in a 2M 4F conditions hurdle.
Some things never change though – Willie Mullins won the Supreme Novice! But he did only have one runner. His only other runner at the meeting finished third in the Bumper.
I think is a combination of several factors.
The price of attending is certainly a major off-putting element for many I think. Travel, extortionate accommodation costs in/around the town, significant entrance costs, £5 for a race card plus nearly £8 a pint and a tenner for anything barring a bag of chips (a £5) and all that before you factor in having a bet. Multiply all that by four days and it becomes a real luxury item for many.
The racing has changed too. None of it is Willie Mullins’ fault but the domination of not only Ireland but of one trainer has taken a sheen off it somehow. One man fielding 11 for the Triumph Hurdle and winning it with an unraced 100/1 shot. I think Mullins himself is popular enough with the racing crowd but I sensed the atmosphere becoming muted around the winner’s enclosure as one after another Mullins trained horse came in. The crowd want to celebrate with the winning connections, it feels a bit pointless when you’re cheering the same team time after time.
The quality of the racing has certainly diminished since they increased to 28 races. The Thursday card this year wasn’t at all inspiring. When you’re shelling out the kind of money you need to in order to see it you expect the racing to be absolutely top notch.
It certainly has a different feel to it this last ten years I’d say.
COVID seemed to change people’s habits too. I think the year it was behind closed doors people kind of realised, hey I don’t ‘need’ to be there after all.
One group I know of who I would term hard-core racing fans used to travel down year after year from Scotland and make a week of it but now go abroad, play golf, have a few beers and watch on the telly and I don’t think they’ll be back.
Some Irish lads who used to be in the same B&B I use no longer come, they’d been going for years but somehow the magic waned.
And another guy I met along the way and used to meet up with for a chat by the winner’s enclosure every year messaged me to say he was going to Tenerife for it this year. Again, if he has fun I doubt he’ll be back.
Then you have the marketing. I just feel they are missing something with the message. There is an overarching crusade to get young people through the door. Bordering on the obsessional. I know it is important to develop that future fanbase but it feels like in order to do that they are almost afraid to promote the actual racing.
And then, as far as Cheltenham goes, by the time it comes around I am sure most fans are almost sick to the back teeth of hearing about it because, for the past six months it’ll have been rammed down our throats through every media outlet. No significant race takes place during the entire winter where the first topic afterwards is how it reflects on Cheltenham.
It’s not an easy one for them to fix. What would I do? I’d try to win back the hearts and minds by making some concessions – maybe reduce the drink prices which would be a real headline grabber. I’d also concede, if I were they, that the racing product itself needs to improve. A long hard look and some tough decisions I think are needed. I’d be moving to 6 race cards each day and culling some of the races. The Cross Country, the Mares’ Chase, the Mares’ Novice Hurdle and one of the Novice Handicap chases could all go IMO.
I’d also take a long look at how I was marketing. Establish why I wasn’t connecting with the audience.
Not easy.
Mods, maybe this thread should be merged with the other one on this theme which is currently on page three of the Cheltenham sub-forum?
🤔
Gladiateur, as far as I can see I can only merge threads that are in the same forum.
I’m out and about at the minute, will take a look when I get home.It looks like a lot of the drinkers are now doing a week in Benidorm or similar and watching it there in the bars as it’s so much cheaper , I’ve stopped going to the Scottish Nat and Ayr Gold Cup as I can’t stand the pissed/cocked up punters , u can’t move and can’t see the horses , that’s not racing for me , I like to stand and watch the horses in the pre parade/parade ring and then make my bet …. Honestly I’m only 47 but I’m there for the racing lots are there for a drink/snort …
I stopped going to Uttoxeter when Arena Leisure took it over and they just seemed to encourage people to go there and get drunk. Stopped going to Cheltenham after the pandemic because I’m not happy about paying a fortune for a train ticket only to end up standing for hours crushed like a sardine ( although I must admit that old age plays a part in it, too). And it still angers me that I’m not allowed to take a flask of coffee and some sandwiches in with me, because I go there to watch the racing not queue for ages for the sort of food I don’t eat anyway. I used to love going to the pre parade ring but, towards the end I couldn’t get to see any of the horses there.
Racecourses confiscating food, even crisps and chocolate bars, is very annoying. I assume they do it because vendors must have to pay for their pitches (presumably a lot of money at Cheltenham) and they have told the racecourse they don’t want customers bringing in their own food and reducing their business. It is still annoying though!
Small independent racecourses like Ludlow are far better. You can take in any food you want there.
On the subject of hotels jacking up prices for the festival, I have been researching going to Chester and York in May and the same thing happens there: hotels put up their prices when the racing is on.
It’s a disgusting practice but is clearly not just limited to Cheltenham.
Hotels will jack up prices when large events in the area, racing, concerts, exhibitions, etc. Cheltenham ‘feels’ excessive though but to be fair I’ve no data to back up that claim and it might be similar to, say, Dublin when Bruce Springsteen was in town or Edinburgh when the rugby is on and that sort of thing. Supply and demand I guess.
The price of some of the early bird tickets for the 2026 festival has been cut.
The Wednesday is once more to be named “Ladies Day”.
Even with the price reductions, £83 to stand in a throng of people – with no guaranteed seat – does not strike me as value for money.
“It’s a disgusting practice but is clearly not just limited to Cheltenham.”
Hotel prices up by as much as 1,850% around Heathrow Airport today.
That’ll be because the airlines are on the hook for the costs. Whilst they don’t have to pay compensation because it’s not their fault, they do have to pay for refreshments and accommodation for stranded passengers.
Hotels jacking-up prices at Heathrow is a blatant example of Profiteering –the act or activity of making an unreasonable profit on the sale of essential goods especially during times of emergency
The poor sods looking for a bed for the night have no other choice than to pay the exorbitant prices
Which is rather different to hotels increasing prices for big events in their area. These are known in advance and the punter has a choice: pay and go, or don’t pay and don’t go
I’m far from a dyed-in-the-wool free-marketeer but I don’t have a particular problem with hotels (and whatever other ‘hospitality’ venues} exploiting supply-and-demand during such events
If one believes these practices are “disgusting” then is the practice of lowering prices from their median during slack times also disgusting?
I wouldn’t dream of staying in a popular holiday resort during the school holidays because it’s so damned expensive and crowded; but I do so enjoy a cheap, quiet break in them during the off-season
Good old market forces
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