Who Goes Racing These Days?

I'm an 1875 lounge annual member @ Sandown and I just renewed my annual members for Plumpton.

I rarely miss a meeting at both and I go to Huntingdon a fair bit as well as my bro lives near there so stay with him for a family get together in the restaurant.

The hospitality at Huntingdon puts bigger tracks to shame and I love the place.

Cartmel and Carlisle for me. Neither of them are rubbish.

Destroyed by disco music…..

Absolutely love going racing member of go racing in Yorkshire,uttoxeter access to all arc tracks ,and Cheltenham,nowhere’s to far for me although I won’t go to 6 race cards other than Ascot.

I haven't gone flat racing in three years. Just doesn't do anything for me. Still go jumping but not as often as I used to.

I try to go as often as my circumstances allow. I was at Leopardstown and Punchestown earlier in the year, as well München (Riem) Longchamp and a few domestic meetings including Newbury, Yarmouth and York/Juddmonte, the latter couple for the first time. I will be at Lingfield (another first) this Thursday assuming Lady Of Clover runs (expected) and off to Longchamp on Sunday for the Arc trials. I certainly care what i watch as it's not cheap, but i love it and i've met quite a few off here.

I used to be a member of the Scottish tracks,frequently racing in Yorkshire,unfortunately a long long time ago…..

Think Kelso must be the only one where you can relax,…..

My local Perth is much of a muchness nowadays…..

Kelso is great form

Talking about the Scottish circuit I’m astonished Musselburgh will no longer stage festival trials weekend as a two day meeting,it’s a real shame.

Home baking jimnast ,or upstairs for soup in front of the open fire…..

Regular, 2 or 3 times a month, South West jumps tracks
Newton Abbot, Taunton, Wincanton, Exeter, Hereford and Cheltenham
Occasionally Worcester and Stratford
A great day out

Aintree ,haydock ,maybe chester ,if the weather is nice

I try to go at least once a month. Mainly midweek. Carlisle October, Sandown December both days, Ascot January & Ayr April both days are already booked.

Stopped going to "Festival Meetings" in UK & have been to 3 of the last 4 Breeder's Cups. Works out cheaper for a week in the sun in Novemer in USA. Next year might not be too warm but the new Belmont looks very impressive.

We're in 1875 on the Friday Tingle Creek, Slippy.

Mainly Brighton and Plumpton. Brighton is still great on a hot day at the track, and the complete reverse is Plumpton which gives just a classic NH feel during those colder autumnal/winter days. Love both.

Lingfield is close to me but I've never felt the same vibe going there even for the NH meetings.

Form

It seems everyone loves Kelso and it’s perfectly understandable why,if I’m racing in Ireland and get talking to fellow race goers it’s always Kelso I first recommend they visit if they come over to the uk,Ireland itself has some great racecourses and I sometimes think they don’t know how lucky they are as the cost of entry is mainly much cheaper and the standard of racecourse food is a million miles better,also from a travelling point there’s hardly anyone on the roads.

Plumpton is great Horatio would comfortably get in my top ten.

100 % jimnast,all to do with the borders way of life…..used to enjoy my drive down there…..brawling and sockless free …..

Interesting point about the brawling form quite often booze is to blame when there’s trouble on English racecourses yet I’ve never seen trouble in Scotland and bearing in mind how much the Scot’s drink that’s a very fair effort.

Yeah they like a dram or two. I can honestly say I’ve never had alcohol on a racecourse in forty years attending,punting and beer…..oh dear !

I’ve heard a few squawking at jockeys in my time having lost ten bob each way……comical stuff.

At York the other week, they had sniffer dogs and honestly boxes to drop drugs in before entering. That's a first for me.

I'm well over 20 meetings this year, mainly Scottish tracks, live in central Scotland but also Newcastle, Sedgefield, Hexham, Carlisle, Catterick, have done Whetherby, Thirsk, Ripon, Pontefract in the past. I don't mind travelling

I wouldn't call them rubbish horses, they all have their place imho had plenty good days watching class 5 and 6 races, each to their own though

Maybe once or twice a month on the courses reachable from South London.

Saying that few of us having a reunion in a couple of weeks time at Sedgefield and Redcar, two new courses for me, only got half a dozen or so to go.

stopped at Covid not been since

Lovegod

There’s a chippy on course at sedgefield the fish and chips are very good ,Redcar is much better than people make out

member of 5 racecourses - Sandown, Newmarket, Goodwood, Epsom and Cheltenham. Go to 60% of those meetings + all the big meetings at Ascot and the odd ones here and there elsewhere. Plumpton, Newbury etc. Probably do 60-70 a year minimum. Trying to do them all in time. Planning a Hexham/Newcastle NH double in a few months. Mainly Yorkshire, Eastern England and Scotland to do. We shall see.

Jimnast

'There’s a chippy on course at sedgefield the fish and chips are very good ,Redcar is much better than people make out'.

Do they fry the chips in beef dripping? Had some at Ripon a few years back and totally different to the ones done in veg oil.

I'll find out Monday week, thanks.

To be honest lovegod I don’t know but the chippy is on a par with the one at Ripon

Back to the racing. My mate and I thought Sandown was the best course until we went to York a few years ago, now we can't get back to York quick enough.

Good afternoon Donegal hope your well

Hexham is very unique you’ll love the place,Newcastle has a similar problem as kempton and Ayr it’s to big for the crowds they get other than one or two days a year also your a long way from the track.

Lovegod

I first went to sandown the night before shergar won the derby little has changed there since still a great racecourse but probably needs a few quid spending on it without changing thinks to much,York spend money every year on improving the experience and they do a great job ,

An interesting thread tbh….

thanks jimnast. All well enough here as I hope it is with you. I am looking forward to Hexham and including Newcastle as it seems daft to go all that way and only do 1. It is NH as well so it may be ok. I replied to Ronnie about the Parade Ring on the thread we had about York a few weeks back and tried to message him but not sure if I got it right tbh. If you are in touch with him , might you let him know? We have just booked for next year already!

Certainly will Donegal

A big plus about Newcastle is the city if your able to stay there.

DP.
Going to York on Sunday family day  taking the wife my 24 Nephew and his girl freind said to them we can go into the parade ring restaraunt or go to the ivy for breakfast then el gaucho steakhouse for dinner its up to you .The vote was the ivy then el Groucho going have to back a few winners to pay for it .
Hope you are all well.
Ronnie.

Just sent you a text Ronnie regarding Donegals post anyway you were already on it .

Hope your well

Thank you Jimnast.
Anybody need a couple of tickets Cheltenham trials day please pm me always try to help Ronnie.

Trials day clashes with the opening day of the Dublin festival and the only day of Scottish trials day this season

On average since 2013, I have been racing 180 times a year at tracks ranging from Catterick to Newamrket to Haydock, with trips to Ascot, Brighton, Sandown as well. Member of ROA, Beverley, Ponty snd Southwell (thus all ARC tracks).

I just do not underastand why people prefer to sit and home backing horses. If they can get to a track, they can still bet on here via mobile phones and the advantages are tremedous in seeing the horses pre-race.

But other than that, it is still a great way to spend time.

Wekeends during high summer can very occasionally be poor with stupid behaviour but midweeks, once the kids go back to school, are great. Ripon yesterday was lovely, reasonable crowd but not too many and no idiots hollering and screaming after two furlongs of a 10 furlongs race!! Although, one youngish girl did ask her companion 'do the horses really have to go all the way down to the start and then come all the way back to race?' How people like her get through everyday modern life is beyond me!

If you know your racing but sit and home to bet, and if you can afford it, then get out to the tracks. Bad horse or good horses, you will not be disappointed...

And there ends my advertisment for Go Racing in the UK!!! (But I meant every word of it).

Well said The Knight.

I don’t go racing as much as I used to, but still love the on course vibe and spectacle………usually. Won’t go weekends, in school holidays, ladies days, or pop music meetings.

I agree TK, it's still a great day out

Excellent post by T.K.

I just love watching racing live, nothing beats it and I'll be still going in my dotage.
My first racing memory is Derby Day 1974 when Snow Knight won and I was hooked from that day onwards.

I'm 60 on Tuesday 8th September so I will be in Spain for the that but back for Epsom on the 10th for a family and friends get together. No better way to celebrate.

Hexham is very unique you’ll love the place,Newcastle has a similar problem as kempton and Ayr it’s to big for the crowds they get other than one or two days a year also your a long way from the track.

Totally agree about both tracks, jimnast. Prefer a quiet midweek in general, but Newcastle is cavernous and soulless on a mundane day's racing.

As to racing, I haven't attended for years as don't follow the game as closely as once upon a time and started to find it all rather tiring. Agree that it's a good experience though - great to get close up and see the mud flying and the riders' urging their mounts along (if you're standing on the hill at Hexham, for example). NH racing is my strong preference and mainly in the north, as based in Yorkshire (only missing Ripon and Redcar around the Yorkshire region, if you count the latter, that is). Love Hexham, Aintree, Cheltenham, Carlisle, Market Rasen, Huntingdon, Musselburgh and many more. For the flat I like Thirsk and Beverley.

Used to have a vague notion of doing all the tracks, but haven't even done half. I feel as if I ought to have done Cartmel one time, despite hearing differing opinions about the experience. Maybe one I might do one day as part of a small holiday, not solely for the racing.

Well said the knight.

I’m off to haydock tomorrow not my type of card but I’ll still be out and about watching live sport and you always get a laugh with the racecourse regulars

Previously loved Kelso Jimnast but they started to take the piss with the track to track bus from Tweedbank station.

In 2019 it was £6 return. It's now £16 return which is almost the same as an early bird ticket for most fixtures outside of the weekend.

Previously loved Kelso Jimnast but they started to take the urine with the track to track bus from Tweedbank station.

In 2019 it was £6 return. It's now £16 return which is almost the same as an early bird ticket for most fixtures outside of the weekend.

Spot on The Knight. Not sure what I would do without going racing. I love it. Couldn't stand being cooped up in my flat. There will be plenty of days later in life when I may not be able to get out so until then I am out whenever I can. Arc Trials this week end.

That’s a shame shrewd we do seem to live in an age when everyone wants to much and can’t help themselves,eventually like yourself people will decide enough is enough.

Catterick put on a free bus from Richmond and gowran park from Kilkenny I’m sure others do I know Ludlow use to but haven’t been on the train there for quite some time so can’t be sure.

Musselburgh free bus from Wallyford

That’s good the dealer I thought there would be more

newmarket still do as well

Just back from Navan, was in Gowran yesterday and Rosscommon on Monday .heading to Kilbeggen tomorrow I have football on Friday . I love racing and simply cant get enough of it really..Have done all the U.K. tracks. Heading over to perth on Monday, so yes I guess I have the racing bug bigtime...

workrider, the big question is...'Do you make it pay?!' Matters not if you can afford it and love it, good for you.

Like most punters swiftynifty its a case of win some lose some.Though the past 5 years have been good to me , I lost £200 today at Navan both my £100 bets were beaten.

Hexham, Newcastle and Huntingdon all put on free buses when i used to go racing regularly, but that was around 15 years ago, so things may have changed.

That Kelso charge is eyewatering, even if it's a fair way to the course.

Sandown and Ascot for me as a Londoner - mainly in the autumn/winter.

Will do Ascot for the beer festival in October and Sandown for Tingle Creek.  Then hopefully run down to Cheltenham for Trials Day as I have friends there.

Catterick don't do the free shuttle bus anymore -from their website"Unfortuntely, the racecourse shuttle bus service is no longer in operation."
Wetherby  say "Due to the location of the Racecourse, approximately 1.7 miles outside Wetherby Town, walking to the Racecourse is not recommended. There is no footpath on the main York Road, and neither is it sufficiently lit for pedestrians during the winter months.  On our weekend and bank holiday fixtures we run a complimentary shuttle bus between the Racecourse and Wetherby Town before and after racing."
Ripon do free transport between bus station and course.
Thirsk do a free minibus to and from the station.

I am so pleased that my post about going to the tracks met with agreement, and not some of the abuse which is sometimes, sadly, to be seen on here.

For the record, I will be at Southwell on Thursday evening, Haydock Friday afternoon and York on Sunday.

Next week, is a big one with Catterick or Leiceter on Tuesday, then Donny Thrusday and Friday. Have not yet decided whether to go Saturday or Sunday for the Leger weekend. Saturday will be packed out and uncomfortable if anything like last year, so I will probably miss it and do the quieter Sunday.

But the other consideration is that, at 66, I struggle to do more than four days back to back. Donny is only 15 miles from my house and so an easy one, but the Monday after Donny is Thirsk. so, if I were to do all 4 days of the Leger meeting, then the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the week after it would be 7 in a  row. Even though I am in pretty good shape for my age, that would be too tiring. Hence, will miss out the Saturday (probably!).

Now, why am I going into such detail? Well, it isn't to show off because a lot of the long-term and sensible posters on here will know what I am about and that I have no need to boast. No, it is a prelude to say that out of all the last 13 years and over 2000 meetings, guess how many track managements or memebers of the horse racing authorities have ever asked me my view on how they might imporve things? Most of you will say zero and be quite correct!!

Yet, I see examples every week where small things could be done a little better with the game - and my suggesitons here are not coming from someone who thinks the tracks can return to the good old days of strong betting rings, big punters and cigar smoke! No, however much I might want that (and I do) those days are very sadly gone forever.

But with better understanding of what primarily makes people lifetime fans of horse racing (which is betting on the bl**dy things) track attendances could be improved - espeically in midweek when they are now often poor.

However, with one or two notable exceptions, those who run the tracks - and even more so those who run racing itself - still think they are somehow above the public.

As an example, I was at Newanmrket on 4th July. A tidy drive for me to go to a meeting that was transferred from Haydock. Now, two things from there that showed how inept racing can be.

First, I got there at 12pm, expecting the gates to open at that time. But no, some bright spark had us all standing outside in the hot sun until 12:30pm - 1 hour before the first race. I emailed tham the next day and received a reply so stupid it made me shudder. Basically, the email appeared to say that they waited until 12:30 to save money on staff costs and, without the said savings, the meeting would not have been proftable. Now, it was a lovely quiet day there (as transferred meetings often seem to be) but if they are running a meeting with figures so close to the bone that they had to make the savings they said they had to, then they should not have been running it at all!

The second thing was the photo-finish on the second race.

Many will recall that the horse that led iside the final furlong looked certain to have won. But the photo took ages and we ended up with it having only won by a nose. From the arguments that followed, it transpirted that the judge has access to an image on his computer that is incredibly, incredibly senstiive. So sensitive that even sending it to another computer for public broadcast would see it lose a tiny bit of clarity.

But on the image the public did see, it looked like a certain dead-heat. However, the judge's image is even sharper, which is why we got the result as given.

Fair enough, and I get that the best image would apparently not work as well if electronically transferred. But why the bl**dy hell, if the latter is true, is the judge using one image and the public being shown another? Either we all see the same image or we rely upon the judge's superior one without having to see one ourselves. What it felt like was some clever new technology being brought into use without anyone having thought through  all of the consequences. Perhaps I am wrong here, but my reply from the BHA over this is still awaited.

Two examples where the HQ of racing itself made themselves look a bit daft. Believe me, it happens a good few times every week.

And with that rant, I shall close and go the bed. I still love racing with all my heart - and I do scrape a profit at it - but I sometimes wonder just why and how!!!

(I hope some people have found this post intereting. But for anyone who hasn't, no abuse please. If it does not interest you then just quietly move on.)

I went racing this evening. It was a bit damp at Hamilton but ideal for the
horses that nearly won. I had three placed at decent prices but no winners.
Next time!
Go Racing, it is a fun day/evening out.

And with that rant, I shall close and go the bed.
I have read shorter novels. You got a lot off the chest there.

Well it seems plenty enjoy a day at the races

Used to feel a different world jimnast until the eruption started…..why they thought disco music would go well with the sport of kings is anyone’s guess tbh…..

Like supermarket shopping blaring out squawk while looking for good produce…..

The main think is getting out and having a good time with friends for few hours. Doesn't matter what grade of racing there's six or seven chances to get a winner.

Thing not think.

The constant playing of music is very irritating but I would urge anyone who shares that view to tell the course. They labour under the misapprehension that everyone loves it. I have emailed courses loads of times. There has been some success. Newmarket have toned it down, especially on the July course. Still there but just a touch quieter. Goodwood the same. The Knight, by way of mitigation for those who keep racegoers waiting outside, both Newmarket and Goodwood , for their big meetings this summer, opened the gates 5-10 mins early when they saw the crowds and the temperatures. Good luck chap.

Going to Haydock on Sat. but looking at the very small field for the G1 sprint might change my mind! Very, very poor turnout.

Remember the Nunthorpe last year when the 2 year old was spooked by a sudden burst,Francesca Cumani made a comment….dreadful stuff..

differentdrum will be furious about all the positivity on this thread!