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To be honest, I don’t like big crowds anywhere. As much as I’d imagine the Cheltenham Festival is fantastic (for example) I don’t think I could manage it.
I know exactly what you mean – the saving grace with Cheltenham is the quality of racing.
If you love jump racing it really is worth going just the once for the experience – Wednesday is the "quieter" day and you can get around the place.
I have the same problem with Grand National Day – I have been a few times but don’t enjoy the crowds and nowadays I am not bothered if I don’t make it there.
To be honest, I don’t like big crowds anywhere. As much as I’d imagine the Cheltenham Festival is fantastic (for example) I don’t think I could manage it.
I know exactly what you mean – the saving grace with Cheltenham is the quality of racing.
If you love jump racing it really is worth going just the once for the experience – Wednesday is the "quieter" day and you can get around the place.
I have the same problem with Grand National Day – I have been a few times but don’t enjoy the crowds and nowadays I am not bothered if I don’t make it there.
I have a different issue with the National Meeting, namely that they go off so far into the distance for the big one, I can’t imagine I’d be able to see anything.
Aintree is on my doorstep, I should go really.
PS: Does anyone mind that this thread seems to have wandered massively off the original post? There’s been some interesting stuff but it may have wandered a little far off ‘the point.’
As it stands, racing in the UK is too expensive to be considered a form of weekend family entertainment. People would rather go to a movie or football game. Tracks that have offered free admission have almost always increased their revenue, because more people=more people buying food/souvenirs/programs=more people betting.
You have it backwards. Racing in UK and Ireland is much better attended than racing in the US where admission is either free or just a couple of bucks. Outside of the boutique meets, the only people you see trackside at most US tracks are middle aged "capper" dudes who bitch about the price of a hot dog. People don’t go because it’s seen it’s seen as cheap, and therefore worthless, entertainment (of course it doesn’t help that most US tracks have all the charm of an industrial estate, and little variation in the races offered).
You get a much more varied client el on the other side of the pond, and more families too.Maybe we’ve been to different tracks, but I see plenty of families and college-age kids. Particularly in the summer whe the weather’s nice.
PS: Does anyone mind that this thread seems to have wandered massively off the original post? There’s been some interesting stuff but it may have wandered a little far off ‘the point.’
I don’t think it matters at all – going "off topic" reflects what happens in real life.
If you are with mates down the pub and you are chatting about subject x the chances are, unless it is something particularly rivetting, it will soon drift to another topic, then another – that’s how conversation and discussion flows in conversation.
Do you not often find it is the "diverted" conversations which become the more interesting?
Isn’t what we do here just conversation in the written form? For me the big problem with discussions here is the lack of visual clues and body language – you can’t see the smile or hear the inflection and there is a danger of some comments being taken too literally at times. It is so very easy for the wrong assumption to be made and I am as guilty of that as anyone.
I suppose the only problem with it happening in a forum is you could miss something interesting if the content does not reflect the title – perhaps we should have the option to add sub headings. How about it Corm?
Right on cue, for some.
"Additional mixed card announced at Southwell
BY RACINGPOST.COM STAFF 5:15PM 5 FEB 2010
THERE will be an extra all-weather meeting at Southwell on Wednesday featuring three jump races and three Flat contests.
Entries for all six races will close at noon on Saturday, while declarations for the Flat races must be made by 10am on Monday. Horses contesting the three bumpers on the all-weather must be declared by 10am on Tuesday.
At the height of the cold snap in January, Southwell staged an all-weather bumper card which was met with approval from jump trainers."
Colin
When I was a kid, cards were played by old men and gangsters in places like the Front Street Labour Club and in Upwest lock-ups on episodes of "Minder". It wasn’t very fashionable – in fact back then, a turf accountant’s shop, with its frosted glass windows and shady characters popping in and out was far more interesting and dangerous than a game of cards.
Nowadays, that’s all shifted. The internet has changed everything. The BHA target market, the U-25’s, are all playing poker. Its as trendy as a Kate Moss handbag.
I speak to a lot of young people and they love poker yet I get the impression that with a bit of a nudge we could get them interested in racing – and at the top level, the Group Ones, the cavalry charges, the big chases, its an easy sell. That’s where we need to start.
All the big bookies run poker sites. Last night on Ladbrokes, 15,000 people were logged on at one point. What a potential market! A free bet on a British horse race – a good one – whenever these kids cash in a tournament would be a start. Plus a free video view. Instead of x million pounds on market research, the BHA might be wise to seed new fields.
Given the difficulties horses have extracating themselves from the stalls in a timely manner, a more pertinent question might be:
Flag starts on the all-weather?
Exeter’s £5.00 entrance fee for last Sundays Meeting is perhaps another example of how price sensitive the cost of attendance is:
Official Attendance
Last Sunday – 2561
Average for Last Year* – 1488* Excluding New Years Day
Unless I’m in the bookies I don’t read the RP but I would be interested to know if this has been reported this week from anybody that does read the RP – Thanks
Offical Figures Here
Eight courses agree to RFC week of free racing
EIGHT racecourses in Britain have agreed to offer free entry to race meetings during one week in April when there will be a nationwide publicity drive aimed at attracting new customers to horseracing.
Ascot, Doncaster and Goodwood are among the tracks that will offer free access over six consecutive days from Monday, April 26 until Saturday, May 1 under a Racing For Change initiative targeting infrequent visitors and those who have never been to a racecourse before.
The programme features a geographical spread of fixtures from Sedgefield in the north east and Goodwood in the south east, offering a mix of both Flat and jumps action and three evening meetings.
Among the featured races will be the Group 3 Sodexo Sagaro Stakes at Ascot, the Listed EBF Conqueror Stakes at Goodwood and the Tote Durham National at Sedgefield.
RFC had set out to secure seven days of free racing, but the May 2 Sunday fixtures at Newmarket, Salisbury and Hamilton were too important commercially to each venue, so they could not be included.
"Sunday was going to prove difficult and, for the public, a week can still be seen as six days," said RFC’s consumer PR director Nick Attenborough.
"It’s still a pretty amazing thing to promote outside of the sport. There are two types of customer we want to go after, the racing fan who thinks it’s too expensive to go racing – we need to change their mind – and the general public who have never been before.
"We knew some courses wouldn’t be able to do it. You would never expect Newmarket on Stanjames.com 2,000 Guineas day to open their doors for free. We didn’t even suggest it to them.
"Some of the other courses are able to do it and some aren’t. Provided we got one a day that was what we wanted."
A regional radio campaign on 120 local stations will comprise part of the promotional effort behind the week’s events when a number of RFC’s trial initiatives will be introduced, including photo-finish results on big screens, modernised raceday announcements and improved raceday programmes.
Some of the racecourses will limit the free admission to general enclosures. The offer at Goodwood extends to the Gordon and Lennox enclosures, while Grandstand entry is free at Ascot.
Attenborough claimed Goodwood had already received 5,000 applications.
RFC chairman Chris McFadden said: "This first-ever week when the public can see racing for free every day is a fantastic initiative that demonstrates that horseracing is united in its efforts to promote itself to new audiences.
"The racecourses involved are making a large commitment to support this idea, and we will measure the impact that it has and see what we can learn for the future.
"The modernisation of horseracing is only justbeginning. With broad support across the whole industry, we can increase the popularity of the sport while maintaining the essential qualities that make our racing so strong and the envy of the world."
Information on how to obtain tickets is available at gototheraces.com or by writing to Try Racing, Racing for Change, 75 High Holborn, London WC1V 6LS.
Raping Post Website
RFC chairman Chris McFadden said: “This first-ever week when the public can see racing for free every day is a fantastic initiative that demonstrates that horseracing is united in its efforts to promote itself to new audiences.
“The racecourses involved are making a large commitment to support this idea, and we will measure the impact that it has and see what we can learn for the future.
Will gain in profit generated from (presumed) increase in take on-course exceed or – at least – nullify loss of gate money?
That is what will surely be of most interest to the courses concerned and I do hope they and the RFC have a strategy in place allowing concrete, quantitative conclusions to be drawn i.e get some accountants on the job and then provide us all with the black-and-white LSD bottom line
A welcome initiative, so a cautious well done! is in order
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