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Someone mentioned ‘graduating’ to RUK and ATR coverage which applies to me I s’pose. I rarely watch C4 nowadays, but caught some of it this afternoon. In my view it would gain from showing more of the horses, more of the Sir Mark type inteview, and could lose the live betting punditry all together.
Anyway, Tanya’s more of a man than Tom will ever be…..
Useless…..
Talentless…..
Not cheap…..
And yet Scouting for Girls, Girls Aloud, Westlife etc, are still used to draw people into racing.
Graham Green in Saturday’s Post. A small article, referring to at least 6 different players in the game yet Paul Dixon is quoted as saying – "…it’s nothing to do with racing’s structure; it’s everything to do with money."
Yet the same article says that Rod Street admits that so many different stakeholders militates against the pursuit of radical initiatives.
While the players involved cannot agree on the problem, it’s no wonder they continue to act as different factions. As a start point, how about everyone agreeing on a succinct, clearly defined statement of the problem facing racing which is not couched in ‘buts’ ‘subject to’ ‘taking account of’ and all the other weasely(?) fudges?
In my experience if you don’t know what the problem is that you are trying to solve then it is impossible to arrive at an effective solution. Conversely, an agreed problem statement can point to an obvious solution, no matter how unpalatable it may be. If you agree the sum is 2 + 2, it’s pretty difficult to argue against the solution being 4.
I just thought I’d do a quick bit of rough research on this. I know there will be arguments about comparing like for like, but just looking at the base cost Cheltenham comes out at just under £20/day.
Newcastle, Newbury and Sandown will give you twice the amount of racing, and a mix of flat and jumps, at £7-£9/day. Jumping at Stratford would be about £7/day.
The Festival is the Festival, and I love it as much as anyone, but pound for pound over the year, Cheltenham looks to be rotten value.
I too gave up on annual membership, shortly after they started charging for seats at the festival.
In my early days I attended every meeting, and the membership allowed me to go everywhere, sit under cover, go out onto the course, park almost anywhere for free, and the cost worked out cheaper than single entry. But Annual Members areas were deserted during those mid week October meetings, with so many joining just for the three days of the Festival.
When they then started to charge all annual members for Festival seats it seemed a bit unfair to those who were there supporting the course come hell or (frequently) high water. I suggested some sort of ‘frequent flyer’ rewards scheme for those who went to other meetings but got nowhere. Then the charges came in for Car Parking, the Paddy Power meeting and have been on an upward curve ever since.
It strikes me that Annual Membership is a prerequisite to getting a Grandstand seat at the Festival, and plenty are willing to pay this ‘fee’ as well as the cost of the seat. Whilst demand outstrips supply the racecourse will continue to push the annual cost upwards.
I was most memorably in the stands when Dessie beat Yahoo, when The Thinker won the delayed Gold Cup, and when Dawn Run got up, and I wouldn’t have missed them for anything. But whatever it was about me or racing at Cheltenham that demanded my attendance in those days has gone.
I think it’s very telling that the Tote see the Bookies as their clients (customer), and not the person placing the bet. In reality, the Bookies are part of their distribution network – third party middlemen – not their end customers. Presumably they would also consider the racecourses as their clients, not the racegoing punter.
Whilst the Tote view their business in such terms, the Bookies/Racecourses interests will always be served before, and perhaps at the expense of, the punters.
So long as we know…..
And now, according to the Sunday papers, Emma Spencer/Ramsden is to be the new ‘face’ of C4’s racing coverage. Certainly easy on the eye, and seems knowledgeable enough, if a little lightweight? I fear that she will be used as a platform and easy entry point into other non racing related items – fashion for instance.
Talking of fashion, is it just me that thinks Tanya dresses like someone’s nan?
For me, explanations of improved performance that are statements of fact rather than explanations – ‘been hard to train’, ‘poor joints’ ‘been working better at home’ etc.
All maybe true enough, but what’s brought about the difference now?The first I can remember that I’d really become attached to was EKBALCO. I’m pretty sure I was watching the Fighting Fifth on a small tv screen in a bar on the cabbage patch at Cheltenham when he went down. It looked to me that the outcome was inevitable, yet all around me carried on as if nothing had happened. Can’t remember anything else of the day just a sense of loss. Lovely quirky enigmatic animal, ideally suited to his rider David Goulding. Anyone else remember them?
There’s a huge difference between a drunk and a jockey taking the wrong course. The drunk has the choice and knows full well the risk he takes and knows full well before picking up that 3rd drink he is breaking the law..
A jockey taking the wrong course is not a criminal but he is being treated like one and in a sense is being discriminated against just because he’s more talented than the next.
Let’s take it to the extreme and imagine it was Ruby who was banned and it was 6 days before Cheltenham and he lost out on ridng Kauto Star and Master Minded and Big Bucks……what has that cost him? around 60,000 pounds perhaps?
Let’s there wasn’t 1 jockey who took the wrong course that day there were 2 the other one being Brian Harding for talking sake……But Brian would have been riding at Hexam and lost out on the winner of a 5K hurdle race………..cost to him say 500 quid.
So just because Ruby is a higher earner than Brian he pays 120 times more than Brian does yet both made the same mistake. Geez that sounds fair!
I think Richard Hannon jnr mentioned a figure of around 35,000 pounds it cost Hughsie during his ban
I’m sorry but I can’t agree that these bans are fair..and the stupid thing about it is who benefits? if they fined jockey at least the money could be put to good use like employing professional down to earth stewards with a better understanding of the problems jockey’s face day in day out.
What get’s me about some of you is you sit there and say it’s fair but if it was you that was losing a possible 10-20k in earnings you’d soon change your attitude.
Barry never did this deliberately he said himself the sun was in his eyes and he was concentrating on what was happening around him………he’s not a criminal or a drunk driver but with possible loss of earnings he probably feels like one.
I can see your point about the different financial impact in absolute terms for your example, but the hit they take relative to their overall earnings will generally be the same.
£60k out of an annual income of £600k has the same impact as £500 quid out of an income of £5k. It’s why fining premiership footballers a couple of weeks money has little or no effect.
The loss of earnings for jockeys at the lower end of things may be the difference between survival and insolvency.
Big grey grain silos, motocross, racism, pubs full of vinnie jones wannabes, witchcraft, dodgy looking kids with big ears…
But enough about the city……
I stamped my feet big time when I was asked to pay £20/month for RUK after I lost my £12 Setanta channels. I’d got used to having it, and they do have coverage of major meetings and I do like their presentation.
But the money seemed a step too far, and I dug my heels in (to myself if noone else).
Clearly I’ve found a way round it cos a few months on and I can’t say that I miss it.
So; whose loss is it? Mine or theirs????
Cheltenham Membership became rotten vfm for me once they started adding on all those seating and parking extras.
Seemed to me that many members joined only to be able to get grandstand seats for the Festival anyway, and there was little extra for the ‘true’ fans attending midweek in October.
Nevertheless it’s likely they can charge what they want.
I’ve not seen the segment so he may have covered this already but Dawn Run’s Champion Hurdle/Gold Cup double anyone????
