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At the risk of swamping TRF with little-needed negativity, I am somewhat bemused by this summers’ round of “let’s get people interested in racing” stunts.
Racing survives by dint of it’s genuine followers, the overwhelming majority of which bet on the game. In effect, those who bet more or less fund the show (don’t bite, owners). The challenge for racing, therefore, is primarily to refresh this constituency with new blood all the time. I am of the belief that this will happen naturally and at (probably) a similar level to the past.
No amount of Shergar Cups, Ladies’ nights and post-racing concerts will increase that number.
It may leave the uninitiated enjoying the evening, enjoying the racecourse, hell, even enjoying a race and a bet or two. But only as an alternative night out, the chances of converting them to lifetime followers (and punters!) is basically nil. That’s not to say that a well-run attraction may prove beneficial to racecourse attendance and the general ambience of a day/evening at the races. Or not, depending on your view.
There are plenty of ways to fill up Britain’s racecourses. Following the free-entry policy set by Towcester would do the trick. But that’s not the same thing as getting people into a lifetime interest in racing. I don’t think there’s any way this can be done. What makes a football fan? Cricket nut? Rugby waller? They’re just born like it or at most influenced with parental/sibling encouragement. Or do we really think it it was the appearance of the brass band on the pitch at half-time or Bjorn Again performing in the tea interval?
Optimistically nevertheless,
Mike
At the risk of swamping TRF with little-needed negativity, I am somewhat bemused by this summers’ round of “let’s get people interested in racing” stunts.
Racing survives by dint of it’s genuine followers, the overwhelming majority of which bet on the game. In effect, those who bet more or less fund the show (don’t bite, owners). The challenge for racing, therefore, is primarily to refresh this constituency with new blood all the time. I am of the belief that this will happen naturally and at (probably) a similar level to the past.
No amount of Shergar Cups, Ladies’ nights and post-racing concerts will increase that number.
It may leave the uninitiated enjoying the evening, enjoying the racecourse, hell, even enjoying a race and a bet or two. But only as an alternative night out, the chances of converting them to lifetime followers (and punters!) is basically nil. That’s not to say that a well-run attraction may prove beneficial to racecourse attendance and the general ambience of a day/evening at the races. Or not, depending on your view.
There are plenty of ways to fill up Britain’s racecourses. Following the free-entry policy set by Towcester would do the trick. But that’s not the same thing as getting people into a lifetime interest in racing. I don’t think there’s any way this can be done. What makes a football fan? Cricket nut? Rugby waller? They’re just born like it or at most influenced with parental/sibling encouragement. Or do we really think it it was the appearance of the brass band on the pitch at half-time or Bjorn Again performing in the tea interval?
Optimistically nevertheless,
Mike
Mike when I was a kid going to Kelso and Carlisle the nearest we got to a gimmick was when Freddie and Wyndburgh (5 Grand National seconds between them) paraded at Kelso in October 1968. I had fallen in love with the sport before hand because of a long love of horses and a very keen father and some good local point to points.
I agree that all the evening bands won’t get those people to sample the delights of Cartmel, Hexham or Perth. It is the thrill of the sport itself and it’s uniqueness in this country that we need to market not Beetles tribute bands for goodness sake.
i caught the racing bug from my ol’man…and the thrill of sitting on red rum as a 8 year old kid.( he was retired and doin the rounds at the highland games) such a gentle horse.
i couldn’t agree more…i hate..YES HATE..hamilton park night meetings and ladies nights….the place is mobbed…a good wee turn for the turnstiles and bars but not necessarily for the bookies……the place is heaving with half dressed half cut young ladies ..tottering about in their high heels , taking ten minutes to place a £1 EW at the bookies..the majority of them dont leave the bar!!! a blinkin nightmare and the guys are worse…..they are never goin to be punters! END OF RANT.
i couldn’t agree more…i hate..YES HATE..hamilton park night meetings and ladies nights….the place is mobbed…a good wee turn for the turnstiles and bars but not necessarily for the bookies……the place is heaving with half dressed half cut young ladies ..tottering about in their high heels , taking ten minutes to place a £1 EW at the bookies..the majority of them dont leave the bar!!! a blinkin nightmare and the guys are worse…..they are never goin to be punters! END OF RANT. :
I agree with you but am resigned to the fact that this is not going to change. The regular punter can choose to go or stay at home.
If I have a runner on one these days/ evenings , I have to go. But I suppose the ordeal is lightened by not having to pay to get in.
These events obviously make money for the tracks and without them some tracks might not survive. Roll on the Autumn / Winter when these events will dissapear for a few months giving genuine race goers a respite.Dare I mention the good old point to points which will be starting before Christmas. I will keep you posted when the fixtures are on Jumping For Fun.
Is it Racing that is trying all these ‘get people through the gates’ gimmicks or is it the courses?
Surely racing as a sport will survive as long as people bet on it, bookies will also always make a profit but in hard times the courses, which are in effect private clubs, need to do whatever they can to get paying customers into their tills.
As a racing fan who would much rather spend a quiet day in the snow at Lingfield in january, with just a hundred or so other paying punters, or maybe a rainy day at Plumpton or a quiet evening at Kempton, I don’t care about the gimmick nights full of stag parties and drunken muppets, let them have their days/nights out if it brings money on for the course so they can open when not many people want to go.
Glorious Goodwood, Royal Ascot, Cheltenham, etc, may be great festivals with the highest quality racing and they draw great crowds but mostly the people there are showboaters, there for the event as opposed to the quality of competition – and lets face it, as die hard a fan as you might be, it’s no fun being squashed in amongst tens of thousands, unable to see anything and having to queue for whatever you want, no atmosphere can compensate for that.
Some people I know recently went to Ascot, I doubt they could remember what horses they backed or why, they remember the pink champagne was £55 a bottle though, but they don’t remember the journey home other than that one of them didn’t get on the coach and ended up getting a taxi home at midnight and one got kicked off the coach half way home. Aparently it was wall to wall totty though and ‘a brilliant atmosphere’. I don’t believe for one moment the majority of people at major festivals are much different.
What’s the difference between the big festivals and ladies night on St Patrick’s day, with a £5 discount on entry if you’re wearing something green, with the Rolling Clones playing afterwards?
Not that much I suspect, if the ‘class’ opinions are removed…
I really don’t know the answer (how to get people interested).
It is my love of horses that got me into the sport, I don’t bother betting.
We always watched the big televised races, primarily the jumping, at home in the 1960s & followed Arkle & Millhouse. Gradually I gt interested in the flat & breeding.I am considered an oddball by most of my friends who have no interest in the game, even though some like horses, some people think it’s cruel & work colleagues don’t think that I am PC.
As a child & teenager there seemed to be a much more positive spin on racing; the Queen was more involved & had serious winners, horses like Arkle, Nijinsky, Red Rum, Mill Reef & Brigadier Gerard appeared on the news & TV programmes.
Where as jumping (apart from Animal Aid type pressure groups) still maintains some of its magic the Flats appeal is diminishing. It becomes very boring (to people who are not punters) when nearly all the horses in the big races are from one or two stables & are from the same bloodlines. Ironically I think that Coolmore & Godolphin are slowly killing the sport.
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I will disagree on this one.
When I was a kid – my grandparents used to watch the racing, phone through a bet to the local bookies (no cards given, just the knowing that my gramp would settle the bet when he visited town next) but I never really enjoyed sitting and watching it on a Saturday afternoon on the BBC (something kids can’t do anymore)
However, on one of these fun days in the ‘cheap side’ at Warwick, we used to go once or twice a year, the bouncy castle, the dodgems, the excitement of watching the racing and crowds cheering etc got me excited and I have followed racing ever since. Moreso in the winter as I play cricket in the Summer months and this restricts my viewing and also, I love the famaliarity of the jumps scene.
I am not sure what the viewing figures are for channel 4 racing – but i am guessing low as otherwise racing would not have to pay for them to show it. I also bet that the demographics of those watching channel 4 racing are incrediably weighted towards white males, aged between 35-75. This is not healthy for the future of the sport. The UK as a nation has changed rapidly over the past 50 years with the people who live here (nataionalities) and technology (internet). This has meant a new wider set of interests and leaisure activities racing needs to compete with. (I.e. do you not think racing competes with 20/20 cricket for the ‘day out people’ and if it does, racing is lagging severly behind in the branding of its sport)
The ‘part time’ fans (as we shell call them for ease) are intrical for the courses survival – however much, the ‘proper’ fans things they get in the way. I like the rest, get annoyed as hell, when I am trying to get a bet on at a course and I have a queue of 12 ladies in front of me with the £1 E/W in their hand. But their ‘entrance’ money is critical to the sport. If racing was not also a ‘social’ event for the masses and was based on pure quality and depth of racing – UK racing would be finished. There are not enough people in ‘love’ with the game or with horses themselves to support the sport.
So ladies days, evening meets etc etc – I think you will find are here to stay. And maybe you should be thankful for them as they are keeping a lot of ‘local’ courses alive.
The ‘part time’ fans (as we shell call them for ease) are intrical for the courses survival – however much, the ‘proper’ fans things they get in the way
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Very well put. Agree entirely.
I guess as members of a racing forum we cant really comment on what racing can do to market itself better. We are all already converted. We need to ask our friends, our relatives, our workmates – what would make you want to go horse racing? What would make you interested in the sport?
Both my grandfathers followed racing as well as my grandma (Piggott daft she was) and I presume thats where i picked up my interest. Dessie helped as I was only 7 when he won gold cup yet I remember rushing home from school to see it! So I liked the sport from an incredibly young age.
Yet, ironically, my twin brother cant stand racing and he was subjected to years of me and my grandma watching it on tv! Go figure!
So some of you are not happy with a health crowd at Hamilton’s evening meetings.
Maybe you want a course to yourself or wuld it not be be better if you sat in front of the TV and contacted your bookmaker by telephone?
Hamilton have a good team in place to promote the sport.
My S.O. told me something of interest at the weekend which I’d never thought about. He’s much more interested in sport in general than me and is pretty knowledgeable about football, cricket etc. On the subject of a bit of bother at the cricket, he pointed out that in the past a lot of people used to go to cricket matches because the bar was open all day whereas the pubs closed in the afternoon. Could this 24 hour licensing hours be affecting sport? I know I hate drunken people at the races, because I don’t really drink myself, and people in this country just don’t know how to behave when they’ve had a few beers I’m afraid, but it isn’t something that had occurred to me before. When I go on my coach trip to York next week [very excited about it I am, too] I’ll ask the people going why they don’t go to the races more often.
Yet, ironically, my twin brother cant stand racing and he was subjected to years of me and my grandma watching it on tv! Go figure!
This is precisely my original point. How do you attract people to become lifetime followers of a sport? You don’t. There’s just something about racing (or cycling, water-polo, hang-gliding etc etc) that attracts us.
I’m not really ‘anti’ these racecourse themed evenings etc. They’re not my particular cup of tea admittedly, but if I was running a racecourse I would use any stunt to get the crowds in.
My problem is with those in power reasoning that this is how you attract people to racing. It isn’t. It’s how you attract them to racecourses. That’s different.
Mike
I went racing at Stratford this evening, unusually for me just as a "normal" racegoer, rather than working.
In our group were two first time racegoers.
Now bear in mind this was a "normal" meeting with no themed attractions or after racing bands or concerts.
Without any prompting one of my guests, before the last race, turned round and asked me why so many people there were not bothering to watch the racing.
An interesting observation which was actually quite difficult to answer.
I made the point of looking during the last race and I would say at least 40% of those in front of the stands were showing any interest in the race.
One good point from the evening is we now have two people who both want to go racing again.
I would imagine that your guests want to go racing again because you conveyed to them your love of racing, and also made the evening interesting for them by explaining what was happening. Thinking about it, most people will only go to a football or cricket match if they have an interest in the sport itself, but racing has always been a social occasion, a chance for ladies to dress up; a place to see and be seen, and most of them will never be interested in the sport itself. I don’t know why some people develop an interest in racing; most people I know that own and ride horses will go to 3 day events or possibly show jumping, but have no interest in racing. I met loads of horsey people in the years when my daughter had ponies, and I think only a handful had any interest in racing, and even they didn’t go to meetings. I didn’t go racing until I was in my 30’s, and then it was only because someone in a racing club I joined took me under his wing and we went to a couple of meetings a year; he loved showing me the different tracks and telling me about all the racing he had seen throughout his life. When I was young, we weren’t all that far away from a time when horses were very much part of peoples everyday lives; the milkman had a horse; the rag and bone man..my grandad used to work with horses. How many people these days have any contact with horses at all? I just think people are missing out on something so amazing.
Truer words could not be spoken!!
I feel blessed to be a pretty big part of THREE retired TB’s from off the track. A friend of mine rescued them and one is a grandson of the Mighty Seattle Slew (1977 Triple Crown winner) and looks ALOT like him…never mind that he has the attitude of his Gramps! LOL! Anyway, I agree that sooooooooo many people go but very few have the honor and joy of being around these amazing creatures everyday. I feel truly blessed to be a small part of the horses I am in touch with but so many fans that I know never get to be that close and it is such a shame. These are AMAZING animals with amazing spirits and they should be revered, enjoyed, and pampered by many more than they are.
LONG LIVE THE HORSES!!!
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I was hooked by racing from a very young age if the name Grey of Falladon rings a bell you”ll realise how long ago was that. I was lucky to meet Donal Nolan many years ago who threw me on the back of a horse and said "go that way" I couldn’t get enough of it and started riding out getting up at 4-5am in the morning and heading down to Rhona Oliver’s yard. I’d be there before anyone and just walk round the yard soaking in the atmosphere before riding out on the first of 3 lots every single day.
I rode out for many yards or any yards that would let me, met and mixed hundreds of insiders, bought my own horses,went racing, won became friends with a lot of great racing people, owners, trainers, jockeys you name it.
I lived for racing and know exactly what Moehat, AfleetTreet and other are saying but that’s us. It’s a game you either love, can take it or leave it or hate it.
I wouldn’t envy any horse racing promoter. His position/job in racing is one of the most difficult you could ever get. Football has it’s Ronaldo’s and Beckhams and getting the girlfriend to pop along to watch Man Unt is a damn sight easier than getting her along to watch Ryan Moore or Jamie Spencer ride some horse round Southwell on a Monday afternoon in the pouring rain.
What’s amazing to us is like watching paint dry to others. You have days like Royal Ascot where men can take their ladies deressed up like peackocks and they’ll be there like a shot but ask them to go to Hexam in the height of winter to clap a horse and she’d rather stay home and watch a soap.
I have one friend who stays a stonethrow from Cheltenham and has done for 67 years. He’s never set foot on the course and nothing could ever convince him to.
The majority of people don’t see the attraction and only occasionally do we get an Arkle or a Red Rum becoming a household name despite the efforts of people like the Racing Post trying to convince every year a new superstar is born
The interest in racing is limited and always has been. Even the media have very limited interest. How many of you saw Lester Piggots 10 second bursts of films in the BBC’s sportsman of the year? Despite the man being a genious I dont ever think he won it.
Ascot are trying but it can be like pissing against the wind at times
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