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Ricky, are they still going on about the two-tier idea? I’ll check that out.
Santa Anita’s opening day. 32,000 people there paying five bucks to get in, some less. Miss Woodford will confirm that.
Was it 12,500 on Champions Day on the Rowley? A late season showcase for everything British racing has to offer. £25 to get in and burger and chips for eight quid.
Surely there is a lesson here.
Max , 25 quid was for Tatts , members was 40
Newmarket was quiet all year , excepting the july fridays where 22000 packed in to see Simply Red
8 quid for fish and chips is standard rip off fare nowadays , its something that wont change , most of the courses will persist in charging wacky prices , punters will vote with their feet
Nothing will change , because the idiots that really run the show cant and wont be bothered until its too late
cheers
Ricky
Now as most know I am no great fan of AW racing but I have to say of all the all-weather tracks Southwell offers the second best experience in terms of atmosphere.
A generally small but friendly and knowledgeable crowd, viewing is reasonable and you cannot complain about the facilities which are good for what is on offer and better than at many other courses.
I have never come away from the course hoping I never have to ever go there again – a feeling I invariably have after visiting Chester and York for example.
The only other all-weather experience I enjoy more (and I am going to be quite specific here) is Wolverhampton on a Saturday night which has a great atmosphere and a decent crowd – a complete contrast to a winter Monday afternoon there.
I can only assume, Ricky, that their money men have made the calculations balance. The prices don’t make sense at Newmarket and yet the racing is often sublime; if not the peak of the British flat racing experience then pretty near it.
Ponte and Beverley offer drivel by comparison yet it is standing room only most meetings and an atmosphere to die for. And Chester defies all logic on pricing.
Did you go to Epsom at all last year?
Paul, agreed on Wolver Saturday nights. Great fun.
Very Unfair on S’well methinks.
Personally both me & my wallet love it, along with Wolverhampton.
They are the easiest races to get winners anywhere IMHO.
I always seem to get a few around here & personally love the AW.Completely different type of racing & tactics & it all makes for very enjoyable viewing to my mind.The draw is vastly underated & trying to work out the races for early pace, late pace ect is another wee puzzle to solve.
I regularly take placepots away from both tracks & altho I have been payed out some lowly amounts-finding the races with dodgy favs & low field sizes makes some of the pots worth £30000Speed H’capping works very well around both tracks-Fibresand ratings only for SW & polytrack for Wolves.
A winner is a winner whether at Ascot or Southwell/Wolv.
If you dont like it-dont watch it.Admittedly I go all the time, but from a standing start I now talk to fifteen, twenty people every meeting
But do they talk to you?
lol Clive , I see the new year has you in good fettle , perhaps we should catch up in sandown soon, weather sparing us all from permanent incubation
Agree with posts about Southwell and Wolver on a sat night , all very true , however where does that leave languid leafy and the sandpit of shame ??
cheers
Ricky
Agree with posts about Southwell and Wolver on a sat night , all very true , however where does that leave languid leafy and the sandpit of shame ??
Lingfield is a funny one for me – like Southwell a loyal crowd, who love their sport and know what they like, for the all weather but it is such a big place the AW “crowds” seem lost – for me Lingfield is a course for Sunny summer days.
As for Kempton – a real Jekyll and Hyde, obviously at the jump meetings it has a great atmosphere. At the AW meetings it really is a lottery and it very much depends on what type of crowd turns up. Love ’em or loath ’em, some of their Summer evening themed meetings can get a good, lively, fun crowd but there is no consistency. When there is a good crowd it is OK but on a quiet day it is depressing. Kempton is not helped by the poor floodlighting which does make following the racing – especially on the far bend – very difficult to see through bins.
I’d rip up the AW at Lingfield. I quite like AW racing but it just seems utterly pointless being there. I’m not sure why I think that, it’s just an opinion.
Never been to Southwell but planning to this year. I think the thing with the standard of racing you get on the AW (and the not especially impressive sized crowds) is like watching Premier League football versus Non League football. It’s almost not the same sport but has a charm all of it’s own.
Like I said, never been to Southwell but I have been to Wolverhampton & the best thing I can say about the facilities is ‘functional’ but you can watch the horses all the way round without binoculars, get close to the winners enclosure (the temptation to pat Charlie Delta was MASSIVE) & have a perfectly enjoyable day/evening out.
Anthony, the Christmas meeting was rammed, the New Year one less so but still heaving. If people can get to Southwell, they will. The jumps are really popular too (same as Lingfield, apparently.)
Except those early evening fixtures, flat or jumps. Curiously quiet even in the late Spring sunshine.
if they charged a fiver, or better still gave out a free equivalent bet (as Big Mac suggests) they’d double, even triple the attendance. Its only a tenner but it seems an unnecessary tenner – more to do with selling memberships than anything else.
Good one Clive!
What Soutwell need to do is have a raceday bus running from Newark North Gate Station on racedays for passengers coming from London,Leeds,York and Doncaster because getting from one station to the next is tricky if no taxis are available.
Soutwell may not be a glamour venue like Ascot,Goodwood or Cheltenham but they do have a loyal if small army of racegoers who turn up at all the meetings.
The sweetie stall is worth a visit and makes it all worthwhile and although the quality of racing may not be the best it still offers those lower quality horses a chance to have their victory day.
The sweetie stall is worth a visit and makes it all worthwhile
It takes more than sugar bon bons to make it worthwhile Neil!
Although i am partial to the odd Liquorice Torpedo!Max , share your ethusiam for the gaff , its a good place to go for a day out , un fortunately in the new world of premierisation , it will be downgraded to flapper staus
Interesting to see what happens then
cheers
Ricky
Although no fan of All weather racing, my one visit to Southwell was a pleasant enough one and if I lived nearer would certainly go jumping there. It is one of Britain’s eccentricities. Leave the place alone
Oh and don’t knock the flapping, the Castleholm at Langholm, Hawick Moor and the one track at selkirk provide good homely fare which is well supported
What Soutwell need to do is have a raceday bus running from Newark North Gate Station on racedays for passengers coming from London,Leeds,York and Doncaster because getting from one station to the next is tricky if no taxis are available.
Agreed. It’s not so much the walk from Northgate to Castle that’s the problem but the piss-poor train service to Rolleston which is cunningly timetabled to leave and return at most inconvenient times. I’ve tended to use a taxi in the main.
I too like the atmosphere and facilities at Southwell and must get down there again sometime as it’s been too long. A pootle down for a summer jumps meet I’d imagine
When I lived in the UK I went there a lot and loved it. No other course like it for specialists.
As a matter of interest Max, have you noticed many of these new-fangled in-running punters there hiring out boxes and surrounding themselves with screens and laptops?Carvs, I haven’t seen the big boys but they are definitely there. Word is they pay £350-£400 per day for the box/SIS pics and they get sandwiches and unlimited tea.
They never mix.
There’s a fella who hangs around behind the horse ambulances on a step ladder at the furlong pole and a fella who walks up to the 2f pole to do his ting. I suspect they work together but I don’t ask too many questions.
Apparently they got stung badly with the Ellison horse last Saturday and again with Liddiard’s horse done a nose yesterday – so one of the tractor drivers told me.
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