Will racing go back behind closed-doors?
Mike Deasy on low crowd numbers and what racecourses might do, culling the race programme, retraining racehorses, Windsor’s u-turn, and more
It shouldn’t come as too much a surprise that racecourse attendances are in decline.
When there’s an economic crisis, leisure and discretionary expenditure can go out the window. Hence, lower crowds at not just big meetings, such as the Dante Festival at York (pictured), but also smaller events such as Sandown Park’s recent evening fixture. Both were noticeably quiet compared to pre-pandemic attendances.
How this will affect racing’s fortunes will take a while to become clear, but reduced gate money is going to be with us for some time, and racecourses will have to start making difficult decisions on how to either maintain revenue levels or cut costs, or, ideally, achieve both.
In comparison to other sporting events, much of what the courses charge is in line with the cost of going to, say, cricket, rugby or lower tier football. The new Racing Post series on the value for money in terms of admission, food and drink plus overall enjoyment at the races compares favourably what what’s charged elsewhere.
The problem however is that, after you’ve arrived at the stadium and maybe had a drink and something to eat before you’ve taken your seat, the expenditure is pretty much over. But at a racecourse there’s still money to spend on betting if you are so inclined. The cost soon mounts up.
The biggest overhead for a track on raceday is staffing. More courses may opt for single enclosures both to find a mid-price point that seems affordable whilst reducing areas available to racegoers, as was Doncaster’s recent decision.
What might be an even more drastic option, especially at those all-weather meetings attended by one man and his dog, is the return to racing behind closed door. For meetings where attendance falls well short of four-figures, it makes financial sense.
If very few people want to attend, why incur costs that are probably greater than the gate money?
Getting up close
One of the many delights of attending the Dante Festival at York was to meet two retired racehorses brought to the Knavesmire by New Beginnings, a registered charity who retrain and re-home former racehorses.
And here’s Nearly Caught, formerly trained by Hughie Morrison, who won nearly £350,000 in prize money, and pictured with the charity’s Holly Harrison. He shared the meet and greet duties with Goldream, and was my first ever experience of patting a racehorse, or any other horse for that matter.
Nearly Caught belied his name on nine occasions from 40 races from 2013 to retirement in 2018, bowing out victorious in a Listed race at Goodwood. His biggest win was in the 2016 Group 2 Darley Prix Kergorlay at Deauville.
Three of New Beginnings stated aims are:
- Supporting racehorses leaving or who have left the sport and with a safe environment whilst the address life after racing
- Providing humane behaviour towards racehorses with care, protection, treatment and rehabilitation
- Being part of a network centres of excellence to give ex-racehorses the best chance of success in other equestrian disciplines
You can find out more about New Beginnings, who are based at Bishop Wilton in East Yorkshire, at http://nbhorses.org.uk where you’ll see details of becoming a sponsor or making a donation.
Congratulations to the Horsemen’s Group, set up in 2005 to represent owners, trainers, breeders and jockeys at the top-table of racing’s decision-making process, which has rebranded as the Thoroughbred Group.
The new identity is to reflect its vision and ambition for a more inclusive industry, driven by its members’ commitment for racing to be a diverse and welcoming sport.
Shame it took so long.
Less is more
Good to read that trainer Ed Walker, writing in his Racing Post Weekender column, thinks the BHA’s plan to cull 300 races is “a great idea”. He went on to say: “It’s a no brainer, it’s been patently obvious to me for a while that we’ve been adding races due to demands from bookmakers and racecourses then complaining about there not being enough runners.”
It was a sentiment echoed on Sunday when ITV Racing interviewed jockey Neil Callan, who has returned home after a long stint riding in Hong Kong. He said he’d noticed that there’s a lot more racing since he left these shores 10 years ago.
Hopefully, there a bit of momentum behind the need to cull races from the programme, not by just 300 but many more. Maybe then, Fontwell wouldn’t have to compensate racegoers when they had only 29 runners earlier this month. Perhaps Bangor will have to take a similar route with a maximiun of 32 runners at their latest fixture
Windsor’s spectacular u-turn
Heaven knows what the management team at Windsor Racecourse was thinking when it decided to cut off the Grandstand Enclosure (which they renamed the Trackside Enclosure) from the parade ring and the winners enclosure.
It was one of the dumbest decisions a racecourse has made in many a year. Actually, that’s not quite true. There’s Ascot’s wizard idea of virtually doubling the cost of annual membership and reducing the facilities to those who are, er, dumb enough to part with their money.
Within days of the first meeting at Windsor, where grandstand racegoers, despite paying £18 a head, were cast adrift from the paddock, the track did an about-face that would have done the current government proud.
These scribblings had already condemned the Berkshire track for a crass decision when their plan was first announced. They have now been forced into an embarrassing volte face.
I’ll leave you with a recommendation to take a look at Maddy Playle, of the Racing Post, talking to Racing TV’s Lydia Hislop. It may be that, like me, you wonder why Hislop isn’t running the sport.
♦Go to the Racing Post’s channel on You Tube
