Racing For Change

Given that the vast majority of people would have a better idea of how far a mile is, compared with how far a kilometre is, why abolish furlongs? You only need to tell someone once that there are eight furlongs in a mile and the job is done.
 
Who do you think is going to pay for all the things you want to see abolished, then, Gal? This isn't France! Weatherbys produces the race cards and do you see them producing them for nothing? Courses have invested heavily in very fancy (and, to my mind, entirely unnecessary) computerised ticketing systems which are supposed to tell them exactly who's come through which gates and at how much, so you will not get them giving you free entry, that's for sure. The free racedays at Lingfield drew no more than the paying days, by the way, when Barry Dennis funded them a couple of years ago. There's no way that you'll see free entry to the better events, so forget that.

I do like 'hotel class' courses, where you pay more, or less, for what you decide you want to eat or drink, and I don't agree that more than 'smart casual' dress is necessary, even for premier racedays. Provided people are clean, don't stink, don't throw up in the bars, don't fight, don't swear so that they spoil other people's days out, and that children are well-behaved, I don't see why nice jeans are inferior to tatty old grey flannels with elephant's bum-like rears. No, I don't want to see half-dressed beer-gutted men, thanks, and I don't want people arriving, as they have been known to do, looking like they've just come off cleaning out slurry pits. Smart casual, rather than sloppy slob, has to be reinforced with some men.

Don't have a prob with having dual-measurement race cards, showing miles/furlongs and their equivalents in metres, keeping both Imperial and metric fans happy.

I do agree that racecourse managers should schmooze a great deal more with the public and not skulk in the background. We have, at last, a new manager at Lingfield who seems a genuinely well-liked and respected chap, who's likely to take such an interest, which makes a change from the past three, who virtually wrecked the place singlehandedly, demoralising all staff and refusing to even go outside on racedays!

As for all those informational interviews you want - there are time constraints with moans that there is already too long a hiatus between races. How would you propose to fit them all in when trainers want to get their horses home, and there are some six meetings to get through on an average day (Ireland and UK combined)? Where would the time come from for these thoughtful ruminations? If you were lingering over Clive Cox waffling on about some bright young 2 y.o., there'd be NH fans fretting furiously that Alan King wasn't being given enough space to discuss the unexpected failure of his hot favourite, etc., etc., world without end. You wouldn't achieve much there, I fear, other than to exasperate one camp or the other.
 
krizon said:
Who do you think is going to pay for all the things you want to see abolished, then, Gal? This isn't France! Weatherbys produces the race cards and do you see them producing them for nothing?
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The price of the racecard will be absorbed into the price of the ticket anyway, but at least that way you don't feel like you're getting gouged for extras as soon as you walk in.
 
First I've seen these:

Galileo said:
1) Abolish the three card trick -paying for parking, entry and racecard.
2) Extend experiments with free or reduced admission charges
3) A big screen at every racecourse on every race day
4) Television screens dedicated to the coverage of other race meetings
5) Food - reasonable in terms of quality and price
6) Adopt a modern dress code - smart casual wear
7) Promotion - More focus on the premier level meetings with the middle level should be funded largley through direct commercial neogiations between the racecourses and betting industry.
8) Bullet races - experiment with them
9) Scrap furlongs - should be metres
10) Develop a programme of big race Sundays
11) Create a must be there end of flat season championships
12) Customer care - On a raceday the racecourse managers should pretend to be a customer and keep asking themselves "what would aa customer think of this"
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1 & 5 I have been banging on about for long enough but not anywhere near as much as 10.

6 should be the norm. F*ck morning suits and tarty outfits. Ladies Days should be barred as politically incorrect.

12 is nigh-on impossible on account of the managers not being subject to 1. They should bring in 'mystery racegoers' (I volunteer) to do it.

Ashforth has gone up in my estimation but I maintain getting rid of bookies should be the #1 aim.
 
With #1, they would just make the ticket price higher to cover the cost of lost car parking and programme revenue. That way everyone would have to pay it regardless of whether they had a car or wanted a programme. Simple.
 
Dessie, may I commend you to the other place you visit, where I have very kindly set out some further opportunities for you to actually earn for services rendered? I'm sure if you take up a couple of those, you'll not only manage a trip to the cinema (even for the entire family), but possibly a trip to Dublin. ;)
 
Gareth Flynn said:
The price of the racecard will be absorbed into the price of the ticket anyway, but at least that way you don't feel like you're getting gouged for extras as soon as you walk in.
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Actually, thinking about it again, where else do you get a program included as part of the price? Not at the football, not at the theatre etc.

The racecard is probably a lot more important at a race meeting (runners and riders etc.) but there's numerous alternatives that you should be able to choose to use (the RP, a Timeform card, mobile internet etc.) without having to pay more for your ticket.
 
Kempton and Sandown used to include the card. Think its a nice touch to do so myself

Most of these suggestions are desirable but hardly going to change the profile of racing.

To my mind, the biggest turn off the wider public has with racing is its rackety image. Its also seen as the sport of bookies layabouts and wellie wearing inbreds. Bit too associated with "the countryside" too for some tastes. Possibly just a bit tacky too.Thommo interviewing some pissed up old bolier in a ludicrous hat

These assumptions probably a bit unfair, but they stick.
 
I agree Clive, but I think alot of little changes together make a big difference...including some of your suggestions.
 
I cannot understand why anyone buys racecards in the first place. Why pay £2.50 when you can buy the RP with a hundred times the info for 60/70p less? Never understood it myself...
 
I agree Galileo but some might assume that it will have instant effects. Little changes create a bigger picture but takes time

BennyB is right. The crossover between cricket and racing fans is very significant. There are many similarities, which brings me to the target audience

In many ways, being a complicated sport with an element of finance and also one that avoids tiresome kneejerk yahoo nationlism and football type support, the natural constituency would be middle class urban professionals. And yet in many ways, racing has perhaps a pretty low profile within that grouping... and possibly doesnt appeal enough on a cultural level...(if thats right expression)

Cricket has a very wide audience across all groupings, but does perhaps have its strongest following amongst the aforementioned
 
Because, Aragorn, the daft RP never has enough copies needed to sell in lieu of a card at any track! Ever see the seller with, say, 1,000 for Lingfield or 40,000 for Cheltenham? No, of course not! Also, Annual Members get free race cards with their membership at most courses, and certainly don't want to lug that damn great thing around, getting their fingers black. You could cut the page out, but it's not that easy if you're doing a bit of paddock-watching, unless you then stick it to a bit of cardboard... who needs Blue Peter on top of buying and then disembowelling the thing? True, 'real' punters (or those who think they are) might bring it in with them, as the day's card is also clipped from other newspapers, but a race card does also form quite a useful little item on which to jot down observations and keep for later use. You know, when you get home, open up your Excel spreadsheet, and start tapping in your personal data which you know is just so much better than anyone else's!

You're also overlooking one vital part of race cards: they contain helpful pages on how to read form, etc., and whereas Mr and Mrs First-Timer would be rather daunted by the vast organ of the RP, a neat little booklet serves as not just a guide, but as a neat memento of the day.
 
The programmes are also a souviner of the day out. Bit of an anorak that way. In addition, as noted already, the RP is a dirty paper to take around all day. And if it's wet it mulches up.If it's windy it blows all over the place. Check the horses on the internet, buy the programme and watch the parade ring.
 
I just buy the RP before I get there Kri. I'll normally try and read the previews, trainer comments etc beforehand and generally only carry the pages for the meeting i'm at. I don't go to the races and stand in the betting hall all day watching other meetings!

I can see your point about it being a memento and to an extent I agree but I think the racecourses could (and should) supply helpful information free of charge if they were serious about educating people and engaging them. That doesn't have to be in the form of free programmes but perhaps explanatory plaques next to the parade and betting rings and a few electronic info points with a course map etc. Not cheap I grant you but if racing for change stumped up some subsidies it could be done.

That could drive down the cost of programmes and with a few other alterations you would have a much more inviting event. Cutting entry would also help, or family tickets (They may offer these already but I wouldn't know). My local track Towcester is free all the time and I believe is securing itself a long term customer base as a result.
 
I was already under the impression Towcester was free so it's nice to know they have a proactive view to attracting racegoers. If I lived near the track I'd probably be there pretty regularly.
 
Seems to be a common theme that of reducing entry fees or allowing people in for nothing. If sponsership was stronger in a strong economy I can see the merit of this however I suspect it's not a viable proposition in this current financial climate? Entry fees contribute to the course's upkeep, etc. Personally, I don't mind paying for entry (unless very expensive in which case I don't go). I do object then having to endure poor facilities, over priced refreshments, one toilet per gender (Windsor on a hot spring day when everyone was drinking and subsequently peeing), etc.
 
Been following this thread with a bit of interest. The one question that I keep coming back to is what the remit of this whole organization is?

I was under the (possibly mistaken) impression that it was to float ideas that would attract people to go racing. So far they seemed to have steered clear of such suggestions. Not easy to come up with solutions mind.

Was just thinking over Christmas that the appeal of going racing for me has declined an awful lot. Doesn't seem to be much of a 'buzz' even at many of the big meetings I've been to lately. Up until a couple of years ago the vibrancy of the ring would have been enough to bring me back - now that's gone as well. As Gal says as well, you get far more information watching at home, as well as being able to switch between meetings/channels. You'd be as well watching at home really.
 
Turtle's fan said:
Seems to be a common theme that of reducing entry fees or allowing people in for nothing. If sponsership was stronger in a strong economy I can see the merit of this however I suspect it's not a viable proposition in this current financial climate? Entry fees contribute to the course's upkeep, etc. Personally, I don't mind paying for entry (unless very expensive in which case I don't go). I do object then having to endure poor facilities, over priced refreshments, one toilet per gender (Windsor on a hot spring day when everyone was drinking and subsequently peeing), etc.
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Turtle, Towcester is a lovely track, clean, welcoming and always busy. Plenty of bookies, good fields (quality not up to much) and genuinely a great day out for a few quid on beers and some bets..
 
I would like to go Aragorn. I am a relative newbie to actually going to racing but more a Brian then a Ben as, at 50, I am not within the target age that RFC wants to attract. I have no history to compare with trackside528, for example. What I have seen thus far I have really enjoyed (other then a very busy Windsor and that wasn't the horses fault). I go to watch the racing. No other reason. Will punt when there but only for added interest and to take in the atmosphere. Went to Huntingdon and really liked it as a course. Could practically touch the horses as they went past, very cosy feel to it. Also went to Ascot in October to watch their first jump racing. Bit more impersonal and 'grander' but would go back for all that. Not, I hasten to add, to watch the flat. Couldn't bear the crowd.
Towcester is just about the utter reaches for a day out given my dog committments but doable.
 
Big welcome to Turtle's fan! You make good points, Aragorn, although most cards I've seen (Brighton, Lingfield, Plumpton, Fontwell, Folkestone, Ascot, Epsom, Sandown, Goodwood only) all carry extensive "How to Read a Race Card" pages in them, which are very explanatory, including pages on how to bet. There's only so much info you can put out, before someone complains that you didn't explain on a great big sign how to do a Triple Exacta!

As for free racing, I don't think you will get an enormously bigger uptake than if you charge a reasonable fee, to be honest. We held two or three days of free racing at Lingfield, all sponsored by Barry Dennis, and the turn-out was pathetic! We get as many or more during bog-standard AW winter meetings when people pay £13, £6.50 for concessions. Two meetings ago we charged 'only' £6.50 across the board and in spite of it being pretty grim to get there, got a good turnout. So I'm far from convinced about free racing: a lot of it is throughout the work week, when the bulk of the crowd's made up on pensioners and Annual Members. With Annual Membership, you're already paying peanuts per meeting - I think the last time I bothered to work out what it amounted to at Lingfield, but it was under £2 a fixture! AMs also often get their own car park, dedicated bar, are allowed 'X' number of free guest badges per season, or a free race card. They're often offered free outings - Fontwell's really cut back under Northern Racing from the very generous offerings when the course was run by Kerman Holdings (which probably explained why it then ran at a stonking loss!), but most AMs are onto a good deal.

I don't think that 'Racing for Change' is covering anything that the ROA hasn't been banging on about for some time: improving prize money to attract or maintain ownership; provide plentiful, clean, and attractive facilities for all racegoers, not just owners; improve the overall appearance of courses and attract better quality fields with owner incentives (lunches, etc.). If the ROA can get some courses to improve along those lines, it'll make for a nicer experience for the racing public, experienced or novice.

I've been taking tour groups around at Brighton, as an example of trying to give racegoers who buy the package deal a much better insight into what goes into making up a raceday. They get to meet and chat with the Clerk of the Scales, the Judge, the Clerk of the Course, and then are very kindly taken into the SIS film van for what's always a fascinating peek at how films are sent to the betting shops as well as home tv's. For an all-in price, they get the tour, race card, badge, Tote betting voucher, a drinks voucher, and welcome tea/coffee and nice bikkies. It's good value and it's one way in which courses, if they have the wit to do so, can involve the racing public in the overall experience far more. Plumpton's decided it's a nice idea, too, and I've got my second tour on Monday next week.
 
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