- This topic has 69 replies, 26 voices, and was last updated 17 years, 1 month ago by
.
- Posts
You would hope the Derby would be a strong enough event not to have to be at half-time during the football.
It would also help if the Racing Post was a bit cheaper than £1.80 because I am sure that puts a lot of people off buying it.I thought the Midweekers would have more support. Ricky, particularly on the Derby issue.
In my heart I’m a midweeker too Max, particularly from a point of view of going racing, as the ‘big’ weekday meetings lack the heady vapours of alcohol and testosterone common to their weekend counterparts.
And like you (I guess) at a young age I too found allure in the fact that ‘important’ races and meetings were being staged when the hoi-polloi had their noses to the 9-5 grindstone. A world that just has to be attractive to those dreamers for whom the words ‘steady job’ induce a deathly pallor and cold sweat.
The ‘pattern’ of Flat racing dreamt up when the proletariat had no disposable pounds and therefore didn’t matter has until very recently – and still largely is – geared towards catering for the wealthy or retired, workshy or unemployed; those polar ‘duke and dustmen’ opposites who have long found a common passion in the racehorse.
Like I say personally I’d be more than content if that lovely sequence of midweek May ‘festivals’, a Wednesday Derby, and weekday back-end Newmarket Group 1s would have carried on for evermore but the head tells me it reeks too much of archaic privilege today, and the hardworking with their now disposable pounds are denied the chance to enjoy live much of the best Flat racing, be that on-course or on the box.
You have banged on repeatedly about marketing racing to attract a new young audience in significant numbers. One way that would exquisetly fail to get young bums on seats and sofas is to insist a fixture list tailor-made for a 19th century minority is tailor-made too for a 21st century majority.
However if more of the flagship races are to be moved to weekends then I would very much agree with the points made about getting rid of the minor meetings that – even now – just add unwanted, unloved, and unneeded clutter. Words applicable to about half the Flat fixture list actually
Btw being an anally-retentive pedant I would just like to point out that your otherwise encyclopaedic list of ‘big’ meetings contains three errors:
When I was a lad the Plate meeting was three days, and both the Western and Cambridgeshire meetings four days
What about Yarmouth’s Eastern meeting? Better than Brighton’s three-dayer surely
A wednesday Derby with a 6pm start? Would be radical but I’d be happy with that.
As long as it’s not on the beeb, they certainly know how to kill whatever excitement the day throws up. give me a handicap any day as long as its not on the side of a hill. Sorry freak show IMO. So it was,is, whatever!
With regards to fixture congestion, what happened to those "matinee" meetings that used to start at 11am or so on a saturday…
That’s a point, actually. I remember all of the meetings on Cup Final Saturday starting at 11ish for most of the 1980s. One of my colleagues tells a good story of the year in which he started with the Bangor NH meeting on Cup Final morning, progressed to Bredwardine point-to-point in the afternoon, and then took in Warwick’s late-lamented Saturday evening NH card to finish off. Nice work!
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.
Matinee meetings- was that the ‘official’ term for the meetings starting around 11am a few years back?
Me and a friend have been trying for weeks to remember what they were called.
That’s a point, actually. I remember all of the meetings on Cup Final Saturday starting at 11ish for most of the 1980s.
An early example of how Racing bent over backwards to accomodate Football. I remember when this was the one Saturday in the year that NO racing was generally televised.
Funnily, this is no longer the case! (Especially as many of us – myself included have moaned at Racing being pushed out of the schedules for other sports)
A beautifully argued and scripted post, Drone. Nothing really to add except to acknowledge your point of view…
…and to tip my Trilby hat to Yarmouth.
Best of luck to you – and everyone – for the flat season.
I’ll go and cut the grass with a pair of scissors …. maybe by the time ive finished the flat season will be over
I’ll go and cut the grass with a pair of scissors …. maybe by the time ive finished the flat season will be over
You have my sympathy BR, it must be pretty boring if racing only appeals to you for 4 days in march each year…
- Total Posts 17716
I can’t sleep here, I just want the action to arrive!
Must admit I was loving all of the flat action today, and actually felt slightly downhearted when Mike Cattermole mentioned the National as it just registered at that point that the flat hasnt yet kicked in good and proper yet. Nevertheless, Aintree isnt a bad meeting to bridge the gap slightly.
Not a great start but at least i could find the winners after the race
I am still usually scratching my head after the jumping stuff. managed to get 12’s on a 22/1 winner so not all bad. Goodbye to NAD about as profitable as NH to me so not to worry. Noverre to go (when i have to ask myself) maybe when the cash is on forward motion. I’ve heard of flip starts but aren’t they supposed to be without stalls, hope all involved ok. Don’t panic well named there plenty of other races to indulge in when your ready!Best of luck to you – and everyone – for the flat season.
Thanks, but I’ve no need of your good luck Max, having not bet the Flat – and all but ignored it – for several years
The memories of that first love are sweet and warm, but the contempt bred of over-familiarity has irrevocably soured and cooled the affair
I intend to resume a cursory interest in the Flat Pattern races though, purely as entertainment and will probably soak up the sun on-course from time to time this summer. York and Donny obviously, but following a lengthy absence quiet weekdays
at Ponty, Ripon and Thirsk beckon too.Betting boots left at home by the PC to be worn only when clicking away at the Big Blue/Puny Purple summer jumps markets.
May your bottom-line boom this summer
I find it difficult to get through an extended break between races, Drone, never mind a season! Even in the winter, I tend to back in handicap hurdles and small meeting handicap chases which don’t have obvious Borg horses at the head of the market. Unsuccessfully, it must be said.
Won’t you miss the experience of betting itself? Are there many summer jump meetings?
at Ponty, Ripon and Thirsk beckon too.- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.