Cheltenham Festival Preview - advice required!

jinnyj

jinnyj

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I appreciate that only a few hours away from Royal Ascot this seems an odd request! BUT....

I potentially have the opportunity to organise one of these and was interested to hear of people's opinions on here as to what they would feel is value etc. I am hoping for a decent panel of "experts" (although they have yet to be asked so I won't name them at the moment!)

So
1) cost - how much would you pay for a ticket?
2) food - would you prefer a meal inclusive or not?
3) bar - essential?
4) venue - pub/village hall or better venue? Or would a "posh" place put some people off?

I'd appreciate sane comments please! :)
 
Maybe mine might be unrepresentative of a general consensus, but for-what-its-worth my preferences would be:
1) A tenner would be the upper limit. Taking into account other sundry expenses and the actual inconvenience of going out on a cold Feb/March night, ten quid is enough.
2) Yes. Obviously tho', would be prepared to pay a pro rata increase in ticket to cover the cost of a meal.
3) Absolutely ! Would not even consider going if there was no bar on the evening.
4) A village hall would be deter me from going. These places are often like some community centre -- soulless and devoid of any atmosphere. A decent pub would be fine; or preferably a local hotel.
 
A tenner is the upper limit without a meal.
Some kind of stage is essential so the panel can be seen.
Ideally have some bookmaker provide the linkage for vtr etc.
Entertainment is the name of the game so put that top of your list and the rest will follow
 
I went to one held at Pudsey Liberal Club this year for the first time. Didn't really learn anything I wasn't aware of but some of the good feeling for certain horses such as Vautour and Faugheen strengthened my thoughts on certain horses. There was a compere and 4 people on the panel and 2 of them were useless. One of them was there just to promote his book and the other was Brian Ellison, who mumbled along without much of an opinion on anything and would have been well served with a translator.

It was £10 entry but I paid an extra charge for a 12 month membership of the Yorkshire Racing Club based there. Something like a laptop hooked up to a screen with some footage of the runners would work well if that's something you can set up easily. I wouldn't pay anymore than a tenner and I don't think many bother with meals. Maybe a pie and pea type supper might work but most people want a few drinks and some race previews so a bar is essential. You can probably hire a room for free at a local WMC or pub because of the cash they'll take at the bar on the night.

Many work and go after work so you're usually looking at something like 8pm-11pm usually. I'd say pick your panel carefully and avoid the fence sitters. They also did a raffle for £50 free bets x 2 on the night, something like that usually makes a few quid.
 
I really wanted to go to one of these and finally did a few years ago. It was the biggest waste of time ever. It was a pub in the Cotswolds and the "panel" was Dickie Johnson and Warren Marston but Dickie disappeared after half an hour to see Zara and the whole thing was done by the ex Nicholson head lad, can't remember his name, think it was Gorden something? Crap Steak, like leather and all squashed together. One TV just big races covered and no atmosphere.

What I wanted was: a nice spacious lay out with your own tables. Food could be a buffet with a couple of choices, eg curry, a panel that engages and adds value to a crowd who obviously know quite a bit about racing anyway. Need a bar too.
Price? I'd be prepared to pay £25 for a decent panel and food at a nice venue
 
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harry said:
I really wanted to go to one of these and finally did a few years ago. It was the biggest waste of time ever. It was a pub in the Cotswolds and the "panel" was Dickie Johnson and Warren Marston but Dickie disappeared after half an hour to see Zara and the whole thing was done by the ex Nicholson head lad, can't remember his name, think it was Gorden something? Crap Steak, like leather and all squashed together. One TV just big races covered and no atmosphere.
Click to expand...
Gordy Clarkson, I'd imagine.
 
jinnyj said:
1) cost - how much would you pay for a ticket?
2) food - would you prefer a meal inclusive or not?
3) bar - essential?
4) venue - pub/village hall or better venue? Or would a "posh" place put some people off?
Click to expand...

1) depends on your audience, and whether you go for a meal as part of the deal, but as others have said, a tenner is enough to guarantee a crowd, and more would put people off, unless you were convinced you had some unique selling point.

2) food needn't be fancy, but a good preview will take time, and people get hungry thinking of all the winners they're getting. Ideally the food will be designed to soak up as much of the alcohol you'll need (see 3), so I'd go for 400 rounds of heavily buttered white bread with a choice of inane fillings.

3) without a bar you'll be lucky to get a panel, let alone an audience. Previews are dull affairs when people (inc. aforementioned panel) are sober, so get the bar open early.

4) don't go too large - the secret to a good preview is intimacy, so a pub is better than a big hall, and will make the provision of massive amounts of alcohol easier.

5) I know there wasn't a (5), but the panel at these things is crucial. The last thing you want is generic platitudes, so make an effort to get a genuinely engaging panel, and don't rely on jockeys, trainers and PR men from High St Bookmakers. If you get a bookie, it should be an on-course one with an opinion - you shouldn't be short of those in your neck of the woods.
 
The local preview is top heavy with personalities and over the last 5 years I would say they have sold a minimum of 1000 tickets a year at €20 each.
The deal seems to be the personalities arrive the night before the preview and are given an extremely good meal with plenty of drink-morning of the preview there is a round of golf at a fairly good course -back to the hotel for more food and drink before the preview starts.
The ticket money is divided between a couple of local charities and as far as I can see the considerable expense of the panel is paid for by a major bookmaker and possibly some local businessmen.
Francome and Davy Russell are regulars on the panel and they aren't short of opinions.
In my opinion if you are organizing a preview your two most important issues are sponsorship and panelists-forget about food.
 
I can imagine that the previews are much better over there. Davy could do it on his own
 
IIRC a couple of forumites drove 80 plus miles to attend this years preview.Brian Gleeson is the main driving force behind it.
 
I find them increasingly tiresome these days to be honest and rarely attend.

Recommend you pack the panel with Irish contributors as there seems to be some misplaced belief in UK racing media circles that 'the Irish know....'

Allocate 78.6% of the preview time to the Bumper.
 
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