- This topic has 38 replies, 17 voices, and was last updated 9 months, 3 weeks ago by
.
-
Posts
-
“Yesterday’s race planning was a joke: Aintree and Wetherby five minutes apart”.
To be fair, they are a bit more than five minutes apart even allowing for poetic licence!
I am not convinced there is a market for racing on Christmas Day. People have got family things to do. There is no tradition of it and people are creatures of habit.
Take Aintree yesterday. An urban racecourse with a potentially large audience from a city which likes sport – but the crowd seemed quite small to me.
Maybe it might increase as the fixture becomes better established but there were noticeably fewer families in attendance than there were at the Old Roan meeting.
I don’t think it does any harm to have two blank days over Christmas. Some of the Boxing Day fixtures are long established – it has always been the busiest racing day of the year. I don’t see the problem.
Crikey, can we not cope without racing on but a handful of days a year (weather permitting)? 🙂 Let em have a (sort of) break.
Nothing wrong with quantity of meetings on what’s a holiday day for most. And it gives plenty of tracks across the country good opportunity to maximise footfall and profit.
For punters, like others have said, you can simply pick and choose select meetings you’d prefer, as opposed to feeling it’s overkill.
There are far too many meetings for me. As they’ve increased over the years, I’ve found that my betting strategies have altered and become fragmented. This has led to fancying more horses and, as a result, making more wrong selections than ever.
Personally, I don’t care whether stable lads and lasses are classed as “in the entertainment industry” or not. They work so bloody hard through the year they deserve two days “off”… (Although suspect many still need to muck out etc). Christmas should be a time not only for families of stable staff, but families of punters too. Not necessarily with their children but also parents or grandparents. Usually part of Christmas Day is spent studying form for the following day anyway, without needing more time watching or going Racing. Surely we can manage without it for two days? Isn’t Boxing Day all the more looked forward to because of those two days off?
Value Is EverythingHas there ever been any sporting event on Christmas day in Britain?
Blackbeard to conquer the World
There did used to be football matches played on Christmas Day:
https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/football-christmas-day-match-history-victorian-tradition
Thanks Corky and Drone.
Drone didn’t need the article to find out really.
He’d have been in his mid twenties in the early 1950’sBlackbeard to conquer the World
I was enjoying a well-earnt retirement by the ’50s
Here’s ‘bites yer legs’ Drone – speciality the late slide-tackle – in his pomp Christmas Day 1930, right back for the Knavesmire Corinthians v the Taunton Casuals
Im sure a fair few stable staff are away from home xmas eve, due to the distance many horses have to travel to race boxing day and therefore are stabled overnight.
But, id say no, as this would mean that the high street betting office staff would be obliged to work. Their not hospitality staff, and what would they do if Chezza turned up trying to get £1000 on a 66/1 shot in the first race of the day. Call the head office, and listen to the message ..sorry we are closed until 10am on the 26th..
Poor Chezza, unable to get a bet on as his fancy romps home by a street.Quote Cork ”There did used to be football matches played on Christmas Day”
And then the same teams played on Boxing day.. player welfare has gone far to far..
Everyone in the sporting, entertainment and leisure industries was, far from being a celebrity to be absurdly deified, put on this Earth to entertain me 24/7/365.
Make them work over Christmas, make their bag carriers work over Christmas.
If they don’t like it, they can go get a 9-5, Monday to Friday, job.
Seems a perfectly-reasonable stance to adopt to me.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"I was working on Xmas day , had a call out for a VIP , hes known for watching the presidents back ….
That settles it – if HDLG can work Christmas Day, EVERYONE can.
Except me (obviously).
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.