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That’s more or less the case, apart from giving any credit to Bangor, who along with Chester & Ripon cynically rip their customers off with BangorBet. Steve Tilley from farcical Horserace Bettors Forum only today tweeted that they bet to an overround of over 7% per horse.
You seem to hate bookmakers, Yeats;and blame them for everything.
But isn’t the above exactly what happens when getting rid of a bookmaker – the Tote?It might help if you got your facts right before commenting Gingertipster.
No bookmakers have been got rid of at Chester/Bangor/Ripon – The Tote has though, so that sort of contradicts what you suggest doesn’t it?
At a conservative estimate Chesterbet Riponbet and Bangorbet all work on an overound of over 7% per horse. Do you bet with them ? if so why?
— Steve Tilley (@stevenctilley) July 17, 2017
For the integrity of the sport do you find it perfectly acceptable that jockeys are on the payroll of bookmakers? What are the BHA doing allowing this to happen? What other racing countries allow it to happen?
https://www.racingpost.com/news/jockeys-banned-after-being-seen-with-bookmaker-on-boat/291575
If you want a good view of racing, go to Salisbury, ignore the members enclosure and take the steps to the top of the Tatts stand.
You’re quite right although if you do that every time on an 8 race card you might need a wheelchair by the end of it!
I didn’t expect to see so many people feeling similarly aggrieved as I but unfortunately, I am not really ‘surprised’.
I just want somebody, anybody to take real notice of us ‘the fans’ because without us the sport is finished. Instead of asking race-goers how likely they are to go racing again why not ask them how likely they are now to watch racing midweek on ATR or buy the Racing Post on the weekend. That way they’ll see that they’re not bringing people ‘into’ the sport but rather offering a day of drinking with the off chance you might see a horse somewhere in the distance.
One of the reasons I very rarely now go and watch my local football team (Southampton) these days is that I can’t justify spending a ludicrous amount of money on something that gives me a 50-50 chance of being entertained. I feel that with increasing prices for the top race meetings and decreasing entertainment I can’t help but feel I’m becoming hypocritical.
Trouble is racecourses can get thousands more interested in the “day out” than they do with the racing… And those whose primary reason to go racing is the racing do not spend anywhere near as much money in restaurants and bars. When I go racing I’ll take sandwiches and eat them in the car park; or – if a bit late – smuggled in using my binocular case. ie Spending no money at all on the racecourse. So why should racecourses actively encourage me to go racing?
Value Is Everything<p abp=”263″>Trouble is racecourses can get thousands more interested in the “day out” than they do with the racing… And those whose primary reason to go racing is the racing do not spend anywhere near as much money in restaurants and bars. When I go racing I’ll take sandwiches and eat them in the car park; or – if a bit late – smuggled in using my binocular case. ie Spending no money at all on the racecourse. So why should racecourses actively encourage me to go racing?
Why do you have to smuggle food in?
Trouble is racecourses can get thousands more interested in the “day out” than they do with the racing… And those whose primary reason to go racing is the racing do not spend anywhere near as much money in restaurants and bars. When I go racing I’ll take sandwiches and eat them in the car park; or – if a bit late – smuggled in using my binocular case. ie Spending no money at all on the racecourse. So why should racecourses actively encourage me to go racing?
It’s taking a long time Gingertipster but I think it’s finally getting through to you, British horse racing doesn’t want you, there’s no money to be made out of you.
Racecourses don’t want you because you take your own butties and don’t use the restaurants and bars and bookmakers don’t want you because you’re too shrewd and make money out of them. You’re not contributing to the levy, the BHA don’t want you. Amazingly you seem to condone all of them in this behaviour.
Meanwhile you would be welcome with open arms in many other racing jurisdictions, much lower entry charges with no excessive charges for the pleasure of having the likes of The Wurzels or UB40 on and you could have as much as you want on any horse.
Tells you all you need to know about the state of the sport in this country, no wonder diehard fans are fed up and turning away from it.
Hop across to Dieppe (outstanding food in the restaurant), Deauville, Clairefontaine (glass of Mumm champagne 4euros). High quality racing, in wonderful racecourses. Some of the racing is mixed which is interesting. I had an outstanding days racing in Pompadour – again the food in the restaurant was excellent and not expensive (drink is hard to find on the racecourses – I only found 2 outlets at Auteuil Grand Steeplechase meetings selling wine/champagne). Pompadour’s meeting included a hurdle race, a chase, a flat on sand and a cross country race. Whilst it is not exactly down the road, racing in at these tracks is a real pleasure.
I used to think that going to the course enabled one to use bookmakers in the ring to get the best prices. Sadly it doesn’t seem to work like that now. Bookies appear to be slaves to the machine, with a near homogeneous product. It would surely make more sense for these people to amalgamate. Why have twenty joints with near identical prices, employing 40 people, and paying lots of course fees, often standing around doing very little, when you could have just one kiosk offering exchange prices for a small commission?
<p abp=”430″>https://www.racingpost.com/news/news/arc-insists-lessons-will-be-learned-after-craig-david-concert-debacle/301316
I think I’ll copy and send that article to my closest racecourse, Market Rasen. Traffic is bad enough through the town on a normal racing day but when there’s a concert and thousands on their way to Skeggy, Cleethorpes or bike racing, bottleneck is a serious understatement. Despite MR having won some sort of award, it’s no great amenity, no great course and doesn’t attract the horses you’d expect, even on a ‘big’ day…….and Lincolnshire has apalling roads, both in terms of surface and network. Far less regulars attend on the ‘entertainment’ days.
Wonder if the Kerrang forum has a thread about ‘Racecourses disregard for incontinent fans of 2000s pop stars’?
That was an epic blunder by ARC who, until now, have tried to project an aura of cold efficiency where everything is planned and costed to the nth degree.
Ironically, these big concert-racedays would be best organised by the old ex-military men, the colonels and Majors and captains who used to run most racetracks right up into the 1970s. The thing they excelled at was logistics and nitty gritty planning. What they’d have thought of ‘pop stars’ and their fans sullying their courses is another matter altogether.
People preferring to see on a “screen” is indicative of post millennium laziness. I watched Landscape Artist of the Year and the competitors, I hesitate at using artists, in many cases photographed the view on an ipad and worked from that. For me, like going to the races and seeing live action, it defeats the object of being outside in the landscape at all, makes the work static and constricted, with the racing seeing the horse close up and going to start is a huge bonus. It seems younger people are connected to their screens, recently I had to stand on a train so I could see out of the window in the lobby as most passengers had pulled down blinds to watch films on their laptops and tablets.
Don’t get me started on bands…..I was at Doncaster for the Leger and I was astounded how many people sat at tables drinking and messing about and not even facing the right way when a race was going on!!
I used to think the excuse was the only place to drink all day but since the licensing laws changed that is no explanation.
I love racing and going to the races but I must say I hate the drunken k**bheads that frequent big meetings!!It is such a shame
I was at Doncaster for the Leger and I was astounded how many people sat at tables drinking and messing about and not even facing the right way when a race was going on!!
I used to think the excuse was the only place to drink all day but since the licensing laws changed that is no explanation.
I love racing and going to the races but I must say I hate the drunken k**bheads that frequent big meetings!!It is such a shame 😥 😥
I agree totally Raymo re the drunks.
It doesn’t even have to be the big meetings either if my most recent visits to Chester, Haydock and York are anything to go by. Truly shocking. I would say that it was nothing that kids or the “fairer sex” should witness, but some of the behaviour was from the “fairer sex”.I went to Chester for the first time (train from Derbyshire) on a whim a couple of weeks ago. Made it to the entrance, wearing grey laced shoes, grey trousers, a dark green sweater and a black suit jacket (not an intentional style icon – they just happened to be the first clean clothes I grabbed that day). It was there I learned that as I wasn’t wearing a collared shirt, I wouldn’t have access to the paddock. I didn’t bother with the other enclosures and going off the tripadvisor reviews, I’m glad I didn’t. I’ve been to the best racecourses in the UK (and some decent ones across Europe) to see some of the best and worst racehorses to have graced the turf during my lifetime and have never had to deal with something so absurd. I might have bit the bullet and grabbed a shirt from a charity shop were the card not so mediocre but otherwise, I had no intention of indulging their unwarranted snobbery. It was particularly galling watching the streams of becollared piss artists who wouldn’t know a horse from a potato welcomed with open arms. It will be a very long time before I’m tempted to consider taking Chester off my “racecourses I’ve yet to visit” list.
In another thread, I think I mentioned the idea of having an alcohol-free, relaxed dress-code premium enclosure for those who want to actually watch the racing. Can’t imagine that idea gaining any traction but until it does, save for the occasional top jumps card, I’ll be sticking with the quiet midweek meetings from now on.
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