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Alluded to in various other threads about the type of people attending racing these days but today,at Donny,really took the biscuit
People were actually booing and jeering when the penultimate race was voided owing to the,I presume fatal,injury sustained by Spanish Conquest.The stricken horse was laid prone over the final hurdle so what other option was there?
Made the old blood boil.
- Total Posts 17716
How unpardonable that is. Given the drunken chanting coming over the air with the course commentaries, quite unrelated to what was happening on the race course itself, Doncaster seriously needs to get its house in order.
Last time I was there (for the Racing Post Trophy) the atmosphere became almost equally nasty, and the frail and decrepit racecourse staff merely stood around looking sour and worried, without attempting to do anything to moderate the racket. I felt quite concerned for them, too.
I wonder whether the fact that Doncaster is run, not by a specialist commercial company, but by the town’s council has something to do with the growing problem there? Certainly since the refurbishment Town Moor has become one of the least pleasant tracks to visit, for precisely this reason. It’s a shame, in every sense.
Injury sadly confirmed as fatal.
One pillock on the Post’s comments facility mouthing off that he had a ticket on Sir Harry Ormesher at 22-1, and was essentially robbed, has been given reassuringly short shrift.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Yes, the behaviour of some of the crowd at Doncaster was revolting, both the jeering and the chanting.
No comment from the C4 team of course.
I thought it was unacceptable behaviour. They tried to stop them as soon as they could and as said, it wasn’t safe to run a finish with the body of a horse in the way… some people have no consideration outside themselves. Not a nice sight.
I was watching it on the telly and thought that the crowd were being particulary voiciferous, but was hoping that it might just be the positioning of the microphone or something. Unpardonable imo. Leaves a nasty taste in the mouth and my heart goes out to the poor horse and it’s connections. A disgrace. Will make a point of avoiding Doncaster in the future.
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And some people say there is no problem in Racing encouranging drinking culture to the terraces…..
I’ll say it again, something needs to stop or BHA are going to let racing die a slow death.
The noises I heard over the C4 coverage of the chanting crowd are one of the reasons I rarely go under rules sticking to point to points. Incidentally one or two of them, notably Northaw and Horseheath, have done away with their beer tents. The former got rid of it because of drunken behaviour.
I raced at Doncaster today and the drunken chanting was coming from the County Enclosure as early as during the 1.00. The booing and jeering from a small number present was hugely disappointing given the circumstances.
Well i think the crowd was a mixture of Xmas Parties and people going to Real Ale event that was being held on the course i believe so the shouting and jeering was probably done by idiots who know nothing about racing and dont deserve to set foot on a racecourse ever again.
I agree with everyone on here – the crowd behaviour at Doncaster on Saturday was a disgrace topped off by the jeering when Spanish Conquest was obviously in distress. And, yes, I read the entry by someone on the RP website mouthing off cos ‘he lost’ – does make the blood boil!!
I was at Fontwell last Tuesday, lots of corporate dos, people were drinking but the behaviour of us all was impeccable and you can chat to anyone around you about racing. Utter delight to go racing there. Doncaster could learn a lot from how Fontwell run things.
I used to go to Doncaster when I was in my early teens with my Father. It was a really nice racecourse then, well laid out with good views of the paddock from the stands. I even used to go to the sales on my own when I was 16.
However we always went in the most expensive enclosures.One has to remember that Doncaster is in a very run down area with a lot of unemployment (since mining ceased) & a very chav culture. Twenty years ago things were different & people didn’t get so rowdy & drunk.
Saying that I have been to Pontefract, which has a similar demographic & it has seemed very family orientated. I went with another woman & we felt very safe. So maybe it is something to do with the way Doncaster is run.
Having a beer festival in conjunction with a race meeting doesn’t seem such a good idea, hopefully it will not be repeated.- Total Posts 17716
I’ve emailed the Doncaster Management:
To: the Racecourse Management
You may have been made aware of the thread on the The Racing Forum (https://theracingforum.co.uk) concerning the increasingly bad behaviour of crowds, very specifically at Doncaster.
After witnessing the drink-related rowdiness at the Racing Post Trophy meeting, ineffectively dealt with by your harassed staff, I made the personal decision not to visit the racecourse until you had put your house in order; but yesterday’s crowd behaviour following the void hurdle race seems in the view of many racing supporters to have crossed a line.
Specifically, the jeering of those officials trying their best to deal with the mayhem caused by a fatally stricken horse has disgusted many.
Given Doncaster’s poor record for crowd behaviour, the idea of combining racing with a beer festival must count as the stupidest initiative since Kiev left open its gates for Genghis Khan. Doncaster seems to be in the unenviable position of becoming the country’s finest racecourse to be effectively a no-go family area.
Other courses do not have this problem, to anything like the same degree. I’d like to ask one question: what are you doing to improve your reputation, and protect your staff and customers from the increasingly threatening behaviour of a significant and persistent minority?
I’ll report back on any reply received – if any.
Having a beer festival in conjunction with a race meeting doesn’t seem such a good idea, hopefully it will not be repeated.
I’m less inclined to think the beer festival was a contributory factor here if, as was suggested above, it was a CAMRA event.
Real ale is not, for the greater part (I’m mindful of over-generalising), something that can be thrown down the neck at quite the same destructive rate as common or garden pissy fizz, and to this day I’m yet to encounter any act of disorder comparable to the Doncaster episode described at any of the several dozen CAMRA events / festivals I’ve attended.
Those events included CAMRA presences attached to race meetings at Ascot and Hereford.
I’ve not been to Doncaster since its reopening, though, so wouldn’t pretend to know how representative of current behaviour trends at the course yesterday’s incident was. Certainly the likes of Haydock, Chepstow and Worcester can bring out the moron in people just by topping them up from those patrolling "lager rucksacks" all afternoon – does Doncaster employ them as well?
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
I’ve not been to Doncaster since its reopening, though, so wouldn’t pretend to know how representative of current behaviour trends at the course yesterday’s incident was. Certainly the likes of Haydock, Chepstow and Worcester can bring out the moron in people just by topping them up from those patrolling "lager rucksacks" all afternoon – does Doncaster employ them as well?
gc
I don’t recall seeing the wandering vendors at Donny and it is something I usually moan about when I write my reviews!!
However Doncaster does have a very large number of bars and some of the cheapest beer at Grade One tracks – which may be a factor.
I would also add Newmarket, Chester and York to the list of courses with more than their fair share of moronic drunks.
Happy, I was trying to be gentle about the Doncaster area population. I grew up fairly close by & I think the track has always attracted some rough necks, especially on the course myself. I haven’t been before its reordering, or to a jumping meeting.
No, unemployment &, or poor education are no excuse for this kind of behaviour. As the sounds appeared to come from the grandstand it could have been from a works hospitably group. These people are often first time racegoers who know nothing of horses, the alcohol may be provided free, so it’s open season to drink as much as you can at someone else’s expense. This is one of the changes in the sport since I was young & race meetings & other sporting events seem forced to do it now to make money.
I have also seen the "lager girls" at Haydock, which is another rowdy course near large industrial towns.As one or two have pointed out I don’t think the repulsive behaviour witnessed on Saturday is a problem particular to Doncaster, but is a trait common to many a Saturday meeting in recent years.
I’m the first to admit that racing at Town Moor does have a ‘rough edge’ to it and, perversely perhaps, I find that adds a certain lustre on the quieter weekdays there I’ve enjoyed so much down the years
In truth Saturdays there have long been a rather unpleasant experience for those silly souls intent on enjoying the racing
The ‘metropolitan’ tracks are ‘tougher’ than their country cousins aren’t they?
A mirror of town and country
The death of a horse in full view which required the voiding of the race, on a Saturday, just before Christmas was a most unfortunate set of circumstances destined to bring the very worst out of the tanked-up non-racing fan.
Essentially, the vociferous fk-the-horse what-about-my-bet attitude heard and seen was no different to the usual cheering of assembled knob-heads when a horse falls.
I endorse Pinza’s email in principle and look forward to a reply to it, though feel it should have been generalised from ‘Doncaster’ to ‘Saturdays at the races’
the stupidest initiative since Kiev left open its gates for Genghis Khan
vg
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