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You’d have thought Kempton racegoer’s would have had a better time of it today, with some top class action replacing the usual dross, but I’m hearing reports that many there today had their day blighted by not being able to move around the sourse freely.
Apparently the Council of Fourteen had a secret meeting planned there and forgot that this was a fixture that would actually have paying customers, so their usual venue in the middle of the grandstand was no longer so secret. By all accounts they commandeered a lift for their gathering, putting an out of order sign on it and taking it out of action for the afternoon, leaving the paying customers high and dry.
Apparently THEY were all in there. All of THEM. I wonder what fiendish schemes they were discussing?
Apparently THEY were all in there. All of THEM. I wonder what fiendish schemes they were discussing?
More to the point, what was BHA Head Handicapper Phil Smith doing in there? Doesn’t he normally spend this weekend beaverishly framing the National weights?
Can anyone confirm the exact line-up?
My sources suggest a vintage medley of racing’s Great and Good.
Mike Dillon? David Williams? "Aussie" Jim McGrath? Mike Vince?
gumshield
Eddie ‘the Shoe’s blog suggests Jim McGrath was not the Aussie but the Channel 4 version.
Phil Smith is central to the Council’s plans. His new approach to handicapping (raising in-form horses and dropping out of form horses more aggresively) has ensured that both many fewer favs win these days and skulduggery abounds.
You may have noticed a horse running for fourteen hundred pounds at the Council’s HQ this week. A strange place to be for a horse that just a few runs back had finished fifth in the fourteen furlong St Leger. You may remember the renewal, in which Richard Hills split two horses rated fourteen pounds better than him for the placings.
Why was he there? Well the official handicapper had dropped him an average of fourteen pounds per run in the fourteen months that had transpired since the year the beast had been mixing it in classic company.
You may remember those dire runs. One ‘Knights Templar’ of the Council tipped it up on page fourteen of the Post on the day it was clipped fourteen points from 20s to 6s, before producing a display for which he was alloted a Timeform rating of fourteen.
And the result on Wednesday? Let’s just say the horse ran a damn sight better than he did the time before when his SP was fourteen times bigger.
Some say the Council prefer the symbolism embedded in their coups to the money itself. I just think they’re greedy toerags.
Just watching Kempton how piss poor is the attendance there???
They must lose money on these cards
Just watching Kempton how piss poor is the attendance there???
They must lose money on these cards
Yes, these deserted tracks are a real embarrassment for the sport. What would a first-time racegoer make of it?
I know Kempton try quite hard, and full marks for putting on yesterdays excellent NH programme at extremely short notice, but how on earth can you expect people, especially in these dire economic times, and in rubbish weather, to cough up £12 for low grade fare like today’s card?
Talk about "Kempton fatigue", they seem to be racing there nearly every day.
Low attendences are not just a Kempton problem.
The "crowd" at Lingfield yesterday was very poor, especially for Saturday – indeed if it wasn’t for a couple of coach parties it would have been dead.
I am told by those who were at both that the Lingfield crowd yesterday looked to be smaller that Kempton’s last Wednesday.
I am also told the "crowd" at Fontwell on Friday was very small – and that was with free admission.
It will be intersting to see the January attendance figures when they are published.
Of course people are probably more reluctant to come out in the current bad weather.
Just watching Kempton how piss poor is the attendance there???
They must lose money on these cards
Oh, believe me…….THEY never lose money on these cards.
Kempton Park Plc might lose money on these cards but THEY never do.
I think that Fontwell’s poor turnout may just have been due to nobody believing that it could possibly go ahead with all the weather problems around.
There were around 2,500 at Kempton yesterday, hard to know what to make of that. Very good card, but only set up the previous day. How many were Newbury badgeholders?
Lingfield’s attendances are terrible, they don’t make much of an effort to publicise their meetings,or make any special offers. It’s not a bad little track these days, but I can’t really justify the expense of going there these days, with my income being so severely cut (thanks Gordon).
What about a WELL-ADVERTISED (ie local press, radio, pubs, supemarkets) 2-for-1 deal for some/all aw days, say, £15 for 2 people, throw in a couple of race cards, a couple of free drinks, a £10 meal voucher and a £5 tote voucher? Looks like they’re losing money, I know, but the markup on food and drink at racecourses is disgraceful, as if it wasn’t high enough elsewhere.
Crowd wise it was quite busy at Wolverhampton yesterday with free entry and a £5 upgrade to the Premier Enclosure.
Food was very good i had Cheeseburger,Chips and Tea for £4.05 which was amazing value plus as Julius said in Pulp Fiction "Mmmmmm now that is a tasty burger"
Fontwell did struggle with small fields and heavy ground but at least 500 people did make an effort so fair play to them.
Kempton never gets full apart from the two big Steeplechase days in the season unlike its neighbours Epsom and Sandown but is still a top class course, If today was free admission then maybe a bigger crowd would have turned up but with two Premiership Matches and the Six Nations in action then maybe people had other things to do.
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