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So many great ideas and we’re still waiting for a meaningful response from the BHA.
Your tab is growing by the second chaps.
Sandown dead tonight. Why are they not going to the big city firms and getting groups in for say a £5 each. I dont think a jazz night is going to get people turning up.
Leemac,
My wife and I went to the Guernsey specially for their one meeting and if I may say so we thought you did a great job. We are experienced racegoers, but the way you interviewed officials, trainers, jocks, owners before and during the meet, was really interesting for us and I’d guess very helpful and involving for the majority of the very big attendance who probably aren’t regular racegoers.
If this were done regularly at UK meetings, my guess is that it would help to involve the ocasional racegoer, help them to feel part of the racing experience and would at least be interesting to the regular goers. Probably be no point in doing it at A/W BAGS tracks unless it’s a music night or equivalent, but for the occasional visitor at flat tracks, seems to me it is the sort of approach that could encourage them to come back. Far better than bookie "experts" advising people to bet money on the horses they expect to loose..
Maybe difficult in the UK for the race commentator to take on that role, but someone from a course could.richard
Cheers Richard, I was asked to stand in for Mark Johnson when he got the Kentucky Derby gig…. between races we use a radio mic to interview officials, jockeys, trainers, punters, you name it. Because we can go almost anywhere in the enclosure with it, we can track people down rather than asking them to come to us, which makes things very flexible. There’s no reason why a similar thing couldn’t be done in the UK, though as you say, it would have to be someone else other than the commentator.
Obviously there is always the issue of talking enough to be informative but not so much that it becomes intrusive – I know that this is a great debating point with PA systems over here – you just have to judge it according to the circumstances.
While talking about Guernsey, I must say it was a wonderful experience. The track at L’Ancresse is a public common and golf course for nearly 364 days of the year, but on the first Bank Holiday Monday in May it’s transformed into a racecourse with the help of some running rails that they got from Ascot. It’s a sharpish, undulating right-hander, 1m circuit, Flat racing only, and a number of UK runners took part (including several hurdlers), winning four of the five races.
If any of you know anyone who fancies a good weekend away next May, and has a horse that they’d like to take over with them, I can thoroughly recommend it – four of the races were worth around £1800 to the winner, the feature race £3000, the atmosphere is like a point-to-point without the jumps, and the setting – next to two beaches – is spectacular. Maybe see you there if Mark’s still in Kentucky next May!
Many thanks to all for posting their ideas and thoughts. As I hoped I’d made clear but maybe didn’t, this wasn’t done on behalf of anyone other than myself. As AP very kindly pointed out, this is a Racing Enterprises project, not a BHA one, so I don’t answer to some of the questions that have come up, such as why aren’t Betfair on one of the groups.
So many great ideas and we’re still waiting for a meaningful response from the BHA.
Your tab is growing by the second chaps.
The reason I’d asked for the views of TRF is that I’m on one of the groups (for better or worse) entitled Raceday Experience and had my own views about what the main issues are on a raceday. Rather than be arrogant enough to think that my personal view must be right, I wanted to see if my thoughts were similar to the general consensus on here, which they were.
Thanks for the response Paul and sorry that some of us on here are a bit premature at times.
I have that problem all the time David, don’t worry! Am in the process of replying to your email.
Interesting that an enterprising owner tried to register Areyouabrianoraben but was turned down by Weatherbys for having too many syllables
(((Thinks about registering AnEnemyAnemone: reads Roddy’s post above and thinks again)))
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.
While talking about Guernsey, I must say it was a wonderful experience. The track at L’Ancresse is a public common and golf course for nearly 364 days of the year, but on the first Bank Holiday Monday in May it’s transformed into a racecourse with the help of some running rails that they got from Ascot. It’s a sharpish, undulating right-hander, 1m circuit, Flat racing only, and a number of UK runners took part (including several hurdlers), winning four of the five races.
If any of you know anyone who fancies a good weekend away next May, and has a horse that they’d like to take over with them, I can thoroughly recommend it – four of the races were worth around £1800 to the winner, the feature race £3000, the atmosphere is like a point-to-point without the jumps, and the setting – next to two beaches – is spectacular. Maybe see you there if Mark’s still in Kentucky next May!
A paucity of days off alone is preventing me from doing L’Ancresse or Les Landes at present! Glad to read they’re being well-patronised again this season – thoroughly enjoyed RUK’s coverage of both courses last year.
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.
Re the syllables limit
(passim)
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Doremifasollatido ran in the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes at Belmont last night. [Pitched in at the deep end. Didn’t scale the heights. Jockey failed to get a tune out of her. etc. etc.]
Only in America, apparently.
I’ve only been involved in racing for a few years so my views aren’t that of an experienced pro and to be honest i don’t see the drastic need for change, this from a 25 year old female. However I would change prices at many courses, they could come down but understand the need for prizemoney and the revenue it produces – however Sedgefield (and some others out there i’m sure) surely don’t need to charge the prices they do for low grade racing and no facilities. It was made even more obvious after i had been to the York ebor fastival couple of years ago paying £12 for Grandstand and Paddock and seen some bloody amazing horses including Derby winner Authorized, Notnowcato, Echo of light…. then later in the same week paying £20 for a typical bog standard Sedgefield meeting. That stunk. Anyway rant about that over.
I have taken my non racing friends racing a couple of times and all have said how they dislike the gaps in between racing… to me and the other racing public we’d probably want extra time to study the form. However for newcomers it’s just a boring gap… There should be some other entertainment in between. What that would be is beyond me and possibly not possible to do. Possibly ‘meet and greet’ sessions/ talks by trainers / jockeys between races if they happen to not have rides in following races etc…? Or even just have facilities that are inviting for the breaks such as coffee shop / lounge type places where people can go sit and relax and chat. Even arcades for younger adults ?
One thing that does put me off going to Newcastle races and possibly is the same elsewhere near cities is the traffic. Surely instead of finishing bang on rush hour they could throw in a couple of twilight meetings to beat this rush especially the many they have on fridays. I’m aware Wolverhampton do some so not sure whether that works ad attracts more racegoers.
The only other thing would change would be the racecourse setting. York, Newmarket and the big names have fantastic facilities but places such as Catterick (however much i love the place!) do need updating.. food, refreshments, toilets, bars, places for children… It’s just off putting for the new racegoer having poor facilities.
I think it’s all pretty sound though and i still enjoy myself when go so lets hope they don’t change TOO much and put us off going to attract new people!
Good luck
What puts me off going to Catterick and Sedgey Kauto is the fact that their are no dedicated buses from Darlington which is a mainline train station to these far flung outposts.
Thanks guys but it’s just sort of stating the obvious i suppose.
Also what about Advertising? Would you think it would be worthwhile to advertise race meetings either tv or leaflets and the dates they are racing… if people don’t know about it then obviously they can’t go can they
Why not indeed, KS1! With ITV haemorrhaging advertising revenue nowadays, I wonder if they’d be agreeable to accommodating racecourses advertising their meetings at some more feasible rates than might otherwise be the case.
During my five years living in North Yorkshire, it struck me on a few occasions as a real missed trick not to have Go Racing In Yorkshire or whoseover else bigging up the county’s considerable racing assets in ad breaks. There was nary an attempt made even during the ITV network’s (admittedly diminishing) regional variation airtime on Tuesday evenings and Sunday teatimes.
I can pick up the East Anglian and the London region variants of ITV from home nowadays – here again are two other distinct, recognisable racing areas around which a dedicated ad campaign could be based.
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.
Going into the Trafford Centre their was an advert for Chesters meeting on Tuesday outside of the Debenhams Car Park entrance which was big and bold.
In a similar vein if you walk through Manchester Victoria then you will see two huge posters advertizing York races so fair play to them for going out to advertize their courses.
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