Punchestown

PRICEWISE2008

PRICEWISE2008

At the Start
Joined
Jan 4, 2008
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Ireland
Punchestown have re-jigged the festival to include the Saturday's racing-brings it up to 5 days now obviously. Anbody got any strong opinions on this..Am not too sure myself, much the same as when they extended Cheltenham..Warming to the idea(on both counts)I guess.
 
During a discussion amongst friends at Cheltenham on Saturday during which we were talking about Gillespie's penchant for squeezing as much money out of the racegoing public as he can, one noted wag asked "so, how do you feel about the impending 5 day [Cheltenham] Festival?"....




....."mind you," he added, "it will only be a prelude to the oncoming 6 day Festival....."

:D
 
I have been to Punchestown on the Wednesday for the last two years and have really enjoyed it.I believe the Thursday and Friday have been uncomfortably crowded.I would imagine extending the festival will mean the Thursday will become more enjoyable.
 
Originally posted by Bar the Bull@Jan 29 2008, 10:21 PM
I think Festivals should be restricted to one day, and they should all have a selling handicap chase.
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And a 3 1/2m+ handicap hurdle too Bar.
 
For me, Punchestown and cheltenham are completely different.

Cheltenham is about championship season. We build our whole year around it. Three days and on each day you had a main event, three supporting acts and three decent races. The buzz was incredible and every race was worth the entry price. Now that its been diluted to four days it gets a bit boring from time to time as they fit in another 25 runner four year old handicap (as if the triumph wasn't hard enough).

Punchestown is different, the after thought once Cheltenham is over. A hunter chase or cross country race each day, a bumper each day, two or three top races a day. always something to keep you interested even if the supporting racing is not top notch by Cheltenham standards. But the atmosphere is great. Weather is generally good. You can sit outside with a beer, watch the ladies go by or mull around the paddock. So extending it another day will not dilute it at all. I think it will only add to it.

In my view they are just completely different.
 
Originally posted by Colin Phillips@Jan 29 2008, 09:30 PM
...if you extrapolate that argument, if you spread the meeting out long enough, there would be nobody there!? :what:
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What about the 7 day Galway festival.
 
Seems to me it's six of one and half a dozen of the other... OK people might take the whole week off work, but given the track has to pay the staff/insurance etc .... is more truly more, or is more less? you really want to pack as much action as poss into 3 days, or 4 max. Over 3, it'sw dubious, over 4, sheer hell imo

Extending these "Festivals" may work financially in terms of more horses running and more badges sold, but only time will tell. Personally I think there is only so much top class racing and esp top class boozing the human frame can take, in one week. I find a two day weekend at Newbury quite exhausting, let alone three, and that's in the summer....

These big extended 'Festivals' are about corporate "do's" - see all the embryo marquees going up in improbable places at Cheltenham, on the tv last Sat? - I don't mind, as I enjoy the extended tv feast. I lay in my stores and my booze, and don't get elbowed or have to queue for the loo. The best GC day I ever spent btw was 2005 in The Pheasant near Lambourn - great atmosphere, good food and company, booze flowed, and I doubt given conditions it was better to be 'there'.

In short, I think trying to 'push the envelope' of these occasions will cause them to implode.
There is only so much room round the parade ring or winners' enc, at any course.
 
Cantoris makes alot of good points...very different to Cheltenham. Interesting to see does it have much effect on the runners at Sandowns meeting.But to be honest by the time Punchestown comes around I have my eye on the flat season. Even if I am there!!
 
Incidentally the flat season starts back in Ireland on the all weather next month while the first turf meeting takes place at Cork this year rather than at the Curragh as is usually the case.
 
Four day Ebor meet as well this year which looks like being a permanent change rather than just a one off.
 
The extra day in Punchestown has a €220k handicap hurdle (0-145) as its highlight... that prizemoney is sure to raise a few eyebrows.

I've always found Punchestown (and to a lesser extent Aintree) to be brilliant days out and social occasions but not worth tuppence when it comes to form holding up or the best horses coming out on top...strange time of year for NH horses.
 
I always do well at Aintree meetings in betting terms, esp the GN meetings, it's less trappy than Cheltenham imo, and form at the track holds up well. I've had some winners at Punchestown but only bet on the big races
 
We live in the golden age of "marketing". Everything is "branded" and packaged and sold by the marketing departments to maximise profits through additional paying customers and sponsorship deals.

If am totally honest I get more of a buzz standing at the bottom of the hill at Towcester waiting for the horses to come thundering past than I ever would standing in the grandstand at Cheltenham or Punchestown.

Give me Hexham on a cold winters day in December any day!

I hate to sound like a kill joy, but the sport is about the 'osses, and I am afaid that at the festivals the massed throngs give little evidence of having any interest in the equine competitors. As was evident when the great Doran Pride lost his life right in front of the stands!
 
Now that's a bit of the chicken and egg scenario. I love my racing and a wet and windy day in a field watching the point to points is great but you can't beat the buzz of a big race day. But you need to get the crowds through the gate. I don't go to Leopardstown on the 26 December simply because it's the once a year punter day. But I am not stupid enough to say they shouldn't go and enjoy their day. Because they might bring the kids in a few years and the kids will have kids one day and that means more crowds to keep a struggling sport going. So I choose to stay at home that day and instead of moaning about the "marketing", thank god that those people make their contribution to keep my sport going for another year.

And on the profitability of extra days racing. The three days of cheltenham used to be 50,000 a piece. Adding a fourth day meant the first two days went to 40,000, the third day the same and the fourth day to 50,000 as usual. If I do my sums correctly, thats another 20,000 people at an average of say £40 a person is £800k before corporates. That's a lot of lolly to put on one extra days racing. Makes sense to me.
 
Cantoris, I fully understand the economics behind the commercialisation of the sport. Personally I don't need imposing grandstands, 50,000 people and huge motorised tail backs to get my buzz from racing.

I grew up in London and visited Sandown, Epsom, and Kempton reasonably regularly.

It was only when I got a car (relatively late in life) and started exploring the so called "gaffs" that I realised what racing, for me, is all about. The quaintness of somehwere like Bangor or Kelso can never be fully appreciated by way of comparison with the commercialised pandemonium of Cheltenham in March.

If Kelso was run by the same people running Cheltenham they would have ripped out the beautiful Victorian terraced stand and replaced it with a cantilevered monstrosity. No more crackling open fires to sit in front of with a large single malt before and after racing!
 
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