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17 Mar 24
11:24
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11 Jan 03
The depressing comments post-Cheltenham by the Jockey Club chairman lays it all bare. He admits the "success" (ie profit" from the Cheltenham festival funds the rest of the year. It's not about offering people a fantastic product or a pleasureable experience,it's about getting as much hospitality crammed in Prestbury Park as possible. It's about selling as much alcohol and food as possible. The more people with no interest in horse racing we can offer the best experience to , funded by city businesses the better.
He says "we are not complacent", when in reality they have shown themselves to be incompetent and complacent. A four day festival has meant over time the product has become less and less competitive. The reduced crowd figures are nothing to do with cost of living whatsoever. It's that the "championship meeting" has become so diluted and uncompetitive, people are not prepared to pay the ridiculous costs involved for such a poor product and experience. The club (£130) experience at the festival is woeful. You cannot get in the champagne bar even if you wanted to. There is n where to sit, nowhere to get a decent view of the race if you wish to actually see the horses in the paddock , then place a bet and find somewhere to see the race. Racing is in decline because it has stopped selling it's product, it has sold it's soul to the devil by focussing on hospitality, coach parties, alcohol, music concerts and basically anything not to do with horse racing to get money through the door. Arc are a massive problem catering for too much ow class fodder to appease the bookmakers. Racing needs to close half it's courses, have a maximum of two meetings a day with one night meeting in Summer and a night meeting on Friday and Saturday nights in winter. But will the Jockey Club actually listen to anybody. It took the BHA 4 years to find Dan Skelton £6k for lying about ownership in a horse!
He says "we are not complacent", when in reality they have shown themselves to be incompetent and complacent. A four day festival has meant over time the product has become less and less competitive. The reduced crowd figures are nothing to do with cost of living whatsoever. It's that the "championship meeting" has become so diluted and uncompetitive, people are not prepared to pay the ridiculous costs involved for such a poor product and experience. The club (£130) experience at the festival is woeful. You cannot get in the champagne bar even if you wanted to. There is n where to sit, nowhere to get a decent view of the race if you wish to actually see the horses in the paddock , then place a bet and find somewhere to see the race. Racing is in decline because it has stopped selling it's product, it has sold it's soul to the devil by focussing on hospitality, coach parties, alcohol, music concerts and basically anything not to do with horse racing to get money through the door. Arc are a massive problem catering for too much ow class fodder to appease the bookmakers. Racing needs to close half it's courses, have a maximum of two meetings a day with one night meeting in Summer and a night meeting on Friday and Saturday nights in winter. But will the Jockey Club actually listen to anybody. It took the BHA 4 years to find Dan Skelton £6k for lying about ownership in a horse!
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Sorry about spelling errors, I am so angry about how Cheltenham has been ruined by these incompetent idiots, worse than the old FA.
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40 % - State of the economy.
20 % - Cheltenhams prices. 20 % - younger generation not intrested in racing. 20 % - Too many uncompetetive races. |
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Cheltenham Exec Ian Renton coming up on Luck on Sunday shortly.
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I agree with the OP about lack of competition/dilution of the product, there being nowhere to sit, and nowhere decent to view the race if you also want to see the horses/have a bet.
I'd add that the breaking point for me was the cost of accommodation in Cheltenham, which nearly doubled after coivd. |
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Killed it when they went 4 days…….greed…..
Different sport sorry but same idea from the greed merchants…….Champions league 5 teams……greed will kill it all imv |
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when it went to 4 days in 2005 there were 14 non-hcaps & 10 hcaps
probably 2 non-hcaps too many admittedly but the balance was ok & field sizes were healthy was decent for about 10 years now there are 19 non-hcaps & 9 hcaps and there simply aren't enough good horses for 19 |
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that has been the JC racecourses strategy for ages; eg Newmarket Nights funds the rest of the racing
marketeers in charge focus on racing as an entertainment product which includes the odd horse race every 30-35 mins |
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The concert meetings make loads of money for the sport. They are awful meetings to attend, but people who support racing should put up with them for the financial benefits. Just go to a different meeting instead.
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