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Official attendance figures:
27/7 Yarmouth 2,302
10/8 Chepstow 1,475
17/8 Windsor 3,551
31/8 Newcastle 2,611
7/9 Wolves 1,969
No info yet for the last one at Southwell.
For comparison, Yarmouth got 2,625 for an evening meeting that included three class 6 handicaps eight days before their Racing League fixture.
Chepstow attracted 1,554 for a Thursday afternoon meeting with five class 6 handicaps a fortnight after their fixture.
Windsor drew a crowd of 4,183 for their regular Monday evening meeting three days before their fixture.
But the RL fixtures on the AW did do a lot better than the average turnout for Newcastle and Wolves.
Almost 2,000 is a good turnout for Wolverhampton. I have often been there when the crowd is only a few hundred.
But there is no getting away from the fact the figures are terrible. The event has very clearly not captured the imagination at all.
Perhaps the jolly enthusiastic Alex n Josh can put a positive spin on them?
The positives from The Racing League….
1. Decent prize money for the Grade (generally Class 4, 3 and the odd Class 2 Handicaps).
2. Consequently sound on integrity.
3. Truly appalling aftertiming, I know, but I actually had a bet and backed a winner on it last week (though organised taking 12/1 with the books early doors, watched it drift to FORTY FOUR on the machine, and belatedly had a “press up” at 38!
The negatives from The Racing League….just reread the entire thread.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"The attendance at Southwell was 1,960.
To be fair, only 818 attended a Flat fixture on the Thursday before. And fewer than 500 people showed up to a jumps fixture the next day.
But it is still a pitiful attendance for the finale of this hugely promoted competition, with Frankie Dettori in attendance.
Alex, Josh and Leona can get excited about it as much as they like – but it is a dud and the public knows it.
Events like this further illustrate the demise of objective broadcast journalism and the rise of unashamed PR.
The Racing League presenters won’t give an objective critique, even if they are capable of such a thing.
They are there to talk it up, that’s what they are being paid for.
But before you single them out for criticism, please ask yourself this question: are the presenters on any other racing broadcast really appreciably different?
None of them is worth listening to and this is why, ultimately, for the viewer with functioning critical faculties at any rate, all roads leads to….the mute button!
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"“Are the presenters on any other racing broadcast really appreciably different?”
No, I expect not but I have only seen the Racing League coverage on SSR, so I can only comment on their presenters. I did not watch any of ITV’s coverage but I have little doubt it would have been similarly terrible.
Looking at the attendance figures, it would have been far better for this misconceived project to finish somewhere else. Southwell on a Thursday night was never going to have a pulsating atmosphere. I suppose the issue is they needed a floodlit track if they wanted to finish in the evening at that time of year and Newcastle’s track is only floodlit for the straight mile.
Sycophancy is the name of the game Ian. If the presenters want to continue having their free jollies to these events then it has to be all smiles and praise. If they don’t do it, someone else will.
It’s not restricted to racing with Sky, their Sky Sports News channel is basically a marketing/hype tool for whatever sports they have the rights to. I always use Formula 1 as an example of that, they barely used to mention it but as soon as they picked up the rights suddenly they were telling us what Lewis Hamilton had for breakfast.
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