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TV coverage

This morning I thought I'd been slipped some kind of hallucinogenic in my coffee.

During the morning programme there was a segment about some 'initiative' called Friday Night Live.

The guy who was promoting it did not come across at all well and, if I heard him correctly, this is to be about:

Live racing on Friday nights at Wolverhampton (at least on the first night)
  • Aimed at attracting young/new racegoers, by:
  • Encouraging them to get dressed in their finest, and
  • Having DJs between racing
  • Encouraging DATING and speed dating

I have no issues with the first two elements but the rest, to me, is totally anathema to what a day/evening at the races should be.

DJ's and the implied blaring music can't possibly be good for the horses, already pretty tightly wound up ahead of a race.

I've seen the lads/ladettes dressed up in [their version of] their finest at Ayr, Hamilton and Perth. It is not a pretty sight. The idea of all that testosterone fuelled by overindulgence in alcohol is a hugely dangerous combination.

Whoever came up with the idea should be shot. Whoever approved it further up the food chain should be shot, hung, drawn, quartered and fed to the rats.
 
Desert Orchid said:
Couldn't find this thread when I looked for it earlier.

I presume Sky were responsible for the ITV pictures today but I wouldn't fathom why they persisted with shots from the inner mobile camera up the straight. It gave little idea of how and where they were each racing relative to each other.

The camera view from the grandstand at Ascot is iconic and should always be given preference.

It's a bit like the side-on inner mobile camera at Becher's when they're covering Aintree. The head-on is the iconic view.
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Absolutely.

But these shots are there to make racing look 'exciting' for the average non-racing viewer.

It's just bollocks
 
When I first heard about the "Friday Night Live" project, I joked on social media that racing is getting more like "Logan's Run" every year.

The reality is I'm 63 next month, at that age I should have (and have) long since accepted that not every product is targetted at, or aims to cater for, me so I don't have an issue with it.

It's just another race meeting for me to watch, it sounds like more recreational betting money, albeit small stakes, diluting the sharp money in the betting market slightly and tbh it sounds little different to various themed race days and nights racecourses already stage.

I've actually started watching ITV Racing with the volume actually on a bit recently and while some bits are still pure cringe in my book, others aren't too bad and that includes some of the younger presenters.
 
Desert Orchid said:
This morning I thought I'd been slipped some kind of hallucinogenic in my coffee.

During the morning programme there was a segment about some 'initiative' called Friday Night Live.

The guy who was promoting it did not come across at all well and, if I heard him correctly, this is to be about:

Live racing on Friday nights at Wolverhampton (at least on the first night)
  • Aimed at attracting young/new racegoers, by:
  • Encouraging them to get dressed in their finest, and
  • Having DJs between racing
  • Encouraging DATING and speed dating

I have no issues with the first two elements but the rest, to me, is totally anathema to what a day/evening at the races should be.

DJ's and the implied blaring music can't possibly be good for the horses, already pretty tightly wound up ahead of a race.

I've seen the lads/ladettes dressed up in [their version of] their finest at Ayr, Hamilton and Perth. It is not a pretty sight. The idea of all that testosterone fuelled by overindulgence in alcohol is a hugely dangerous combination.

Whoever came up with the idea should be shot. Whoever approved it further up the food chain should be shot, hung, drawn, quartered and fed to the rats.
Click to expand...
I personally quite liked "The Racing League" but I remember that many on here were dead against it although some did come round to accepting it. IMO this does sound worse than TRL but will have a watch before I dis it but it does sound horrendous .......I wonder if the horses will be asked to submit playlists :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
 
Gullible said:
.I wonder if the horses will be asked to submit playlists :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
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Following on from Gullible's sensible suggestion I did some consultation with my four and two legged friends. Here are their thoughts.

Consitution Hill : America - Horse With No Game.
Anzadam: U2 - Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
Galopin Des Champs: Ted Crilly and Dougal Maguire - My Lovely Horse


Nicky Henderson and Oisin Murphy: Willie Nelson - Beer For My Horses

Aidan O'Brien: Ah shure look it, when I have my first two year old winner in April it'll be the best I've ever trained, a serious horse, exceptional speed, you could do anything with him. So it would have to be 'Champion The Wonder Horse' by Frankie Laine. And I'd like to thank Richie, Gobnet, PJ, Anastasia, Sashin, Tom who rides him every day, Attracta and Bob for doing all the work behind the scenes to help me make this grreat choice.
 
Personally I wasn't keen on the concept of the racing league as it was change to horse racing itself

But with the friday night live thing I just take the view of different strokes, just like the whole music events after the races.
I don't think aged, pious, teetotalling, penny pinching purists are a large demographic nor one courses are keen to pursue to keep their doors open.

"Side activities" to horse racing at meetings are nothing new if such as what is described re the victorian era in the book gentlemen and blackguards is anything to go by.

I'll admit if I was in the age bracket I'd be tempted to go, perhaps I could tempt a girl with some of my lovely stats..... ;):ROFLMAO:
www.wolverhampton-racecourse.co.uk

Friday Night Live 2026 Opening Night

Kick off 2026 with Fright Night Live! High-energy racing meets live entertainment and student-friendly deals at Wolves Racecourse.
www.wolverhampton-racecourse.co.uk www.wolverhampton-racecourse.co.uk
 
I watched this on the Opening Show and I too thought it bizarre. But more and more the "young and trendies" are stepping into these roles and given a free rein with marketing. We are seeing the same within the Pointing industry and most people are standing shaking their heads in disbelief.

Sure we need more exposure but it's the very odd concepts they come up with. We do need to encourage the younger generation and Richard Hoiles comments were as ever the most wise. You're getting the kids there but it's just a continuation of partying instead of teaching them about the core product. I suppose you are taking their money which is what they want ultimately although all this hollering about so many young being at Cheltenham - well racing has always been free to the younger audience! And how many are going to be back for the Festival? Those that are 18-30 have to take a day off work/studies PLUS it's not as cheap as the NYD meeting.
 
A friend's daughter is at Leeds University and attended the early March meeting at Doncaster last year on a students' package organised by Invades. I asked afterwards how her day went and the answer was that she spent most of the time drinking and didn't take much notice of the racing.
For anyone planning to attend weekend meetings in February, the fixtures linked to Invades events - tickets from £10 - are at Musselburgh (1st), Uttoxeter (7th), Exeter (8th), Ascot/ Haydock ( 14th), and Newbury/ Doncaster ( 28th). They're good business for racecourses hoping to boost crowds, but I wouldn't think they would foster a long-term interest in racing for too many attendees.
 
Tom Scudamore talks a lot of sense too. And isn't afraid to be open and honest. And Max MacNeill was interesting too.

These are people that need listening to by the BHA.
 
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Racing has always been a social event. And ladies days one of the only times that many women can wear expensive outfits that they’ve bought for weddings. My DIL, who doesn’t usually go racing, had her hen do at a race meeting. Although I only go to Kelso in my thermals these days I might, in the future ( knee permitting) take my granddaughter to a ladies day so we can both wear our posh frocks.
 
Funnily enough "ladies day" is what sprung to my mind re friday night live

When I was that age I was, as I had sense, far more interested in the kelly bundyesque rock chick girlfriend I had at the time than form analysis, a trip to the races was just a different day out.
I'm all for courses cultivating the view with the 18-25 group that the day at the races is a good day out, if you're trying to sell a product you have consider what the market wants not what you think they should want.

But my interest predated that re my old man taking me to York Ebor meetings in my early teens , hence I'm all for family days

It wasn't until my 30s that I really got interested in more than superficial level, but the seed had been planted early
 
pawras said:
kelly bundyesque rock chick
Click to expand...
I feel I need to make it clear that I've no idea who Kelly Bundy is/was and, what's more, I've never heard of Christina Applegate!

The world changes and what gets young adults to go racing for the first time changes.

But one thing that doesn't change is what makes them become repeat racegoers.

And that's them coming off the track thinking the best thing about the night was the actual racing (and betting), seeing the live action, having a bet, and hopefully the joy of backing a winner.

Because they can get DJs and Speed Dating pretty much anywhere they want to go.

Going racing shouldn't be like a turgid dour extra course on a university degree syllabus, but without access to the info to draw them in to what racing and betting actually is, it just becomes a one-hit wonder.
 
And yet what they could be doing is running syndicates for 18-30yo like an enterprising guy did pointing. He bought two horses, Regatta de Blanc being one and created the Pendil Partnership which was £75/year on off payment but for young people. He got a fair take up but he should have capitalised on it and had pop up gazebos selling the shares outside each beer tent as the two horses racked up about 8 wins.

If someone did this then for a small outlay, you could get these young people involved in ownership at a low level and some of them just might stay in the game as they get older. Let's face it, they all drink pretty heavily when they are there and what better way to show off in front of your mates.
 
I was going to buy us a share in a horse via a syndicate one year but my partner said not to as I would be so upset if the horse got killed. Look what happened to the Elite horse the other week. My son asked me to take my granddaughter to a meeting when she got interested in horses a couple of years ago but I refused as I was scared that there might be fallers. If I do take her in the future it will be to a Nottingham flat meeting ( although she’s now more keen on football).
 
maureen said:
I was going to buy us a share in a horse via a syndicate one year but my partner said not to as I would be so upset if the horse got killed. Look what happened to the Elite horse the other week. My son asked me to take my granddaughter to a meeting when she got interested in horses a couple of years ago but I refused as I was scared that there might be fallers. If I do take her in the future it will be to a Nottingham flat meeting ( although she’s now more keen on football).
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To be fair, Im more of a Flat racing lover than Jump Racing so I get it. I hope I can go to a Flat Meeting at some point
 
Sophie loves going racing but she’s only been flat racing once and she thought the best bit about Caulfield was the food, despite getting excited at Mr B winning 🤣

As for the jumps, she loves it - she’s the one climbing the rails as a four, five and six year old ( she is only 10 now!) to see over them, shouting at all the jockeys that they aren’t trying hard enough. She also gets sad when they are injured, but she knows that sometimes things happen that are just sad accidents. I think that’s a mix of me being involved as heavily as I have been and also owning our own as well, she’s got a lot of experience of all the sides of horses.
She used to love going to the yard to visit Raisin and the guys there and she’s going to be going racing in all its forms for as long as she’s able I think.

She’s also gone through the card on more than one occasion - so clearly the tipping gene skips a generation 😁
 
That’s a lovely thing to say Walsworth, thankyou! She’s a total menace a lot of the time, but there’s not a mean bone in her body, I’m very lucky to have her.

She’s also told me to add that she’s “ NEARLY ELEVEN MUM” ( it’s her birthday on the 12th!) just to make sure everyone knows 🙄🤦🏼‍♀️😆
 
Courses are commercial enterprises and view things from that perspective and matters not a jot if that's anathema to some.

Po faced tight arses of any generation are not the customers they want.

They need in volume, people who go and are willing to spend money there rather than any of the myriad of other choices competing for people's disposable income these days , and preferably turn them into repeat customers as well.

The teens and 20s group tend to have less responsibilities and therefore more willing spend money on good times.

If you get girls of that age group keen on going you'll get more lads keen on going simple as that, sex sells end of.

They're far away from my age group but I don't begrudge them having a good time.

But courses should better approach presenting to all attendees the most basic concepts of form analysis and betting in an easily digestible way so it eventually sinks in with some by osmosis.
Something I saw at Ascot once which I thought was a decent idea and I could see drew interest was having a huge wipe board of what had been tipped by all the different newspaper tipsters etc in each race. Similar to what I've seen in the RP but all on one board and accessible to everyone.

Anyway Hong Kong is on tv this morning....
 
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pawras said:
Courses are commercial enterprises and view things from that perspective and matters not a jot if that's anathema to some.

Po faced tight arses of any generation are not the customers they want.

They need in volume, people who go and are willing to spend money there rather than any of the myriad of other choices competing for people's disposable income these days , and preferably turn them into repeat customers as well.

The teens and 20s group tend to have less responsibilities and therefore more willing spend money on good times.

If you get girls of that age group keen on going you'll get more lads keen on going simple as that, sex sells end of.

They're far away from my age group but I don't begrudge them having a good time.

But courses should better approach presenting to all attendees the most basic concepts of form analysis and betting in an easily digestible way so it eventually sinks in with some by osmosis.
Something I saw at Ascot once which I thought was a decent idea and I could see drew interest was having a huge wipe board of what was been tipped by all the different newspaper tipsters etc in each race. Similar to what I've seen in the RP but all on one board and accessible to everyone.

Anyway Hong Kong is on tv this morning....
Click to expand...
A lot of sense in this, I think - I've made similar points.

My (boomer) generation in our youth often bemoaned the inability of our parents and grandparents to move with the times - now many of them are doing the exact same thing.

It's the circle of life, each generation waits a generation for "their time," when they will "inherit the Earth" and it will reflect the values of their generation.

But it never quite pans out like that - there are always subsequent generations already knocking at the door.

Their way is not our way, nor should it be.

A combination of watching racing on TV, a Maths teacher who was into racing, reading Dick Francis's autobiography and persuading my Dad to take me racing (after which he got the bug too) in 1977 was my way in.

And I was never a party animal - at uni I was a form and betting geek, post-uni I had a mortgage at 22, and was spared the ravages of lads nights out by the infinitely more appealing option of dinner "etc" with a then steady gf who worked in a care home, but was socially upwardly mobile, basically took over my Docklands apartment and might also have been described as "Kelly Bundyesque," but for the fact she was British Indian.

However, even though now at 62 I don't have the same Friday night partying interests as someone aged 22 (not least because I didn't have those interests when I was 22 either) I can relate.

I actually think it's selfish of some of my generation to trash initiatives like this simply on the grounds it offers nothing to them personally.

But, perhaps like pawras, I also maintain that getting people to try going racing once is a lot easier (and a lot less valuable) than getting them to go racing and then become a repeat consumer of the racing product.

DJ and speed dating bolt ons etc may well get them in that first time but, unless racing's USPs compared to other nights out - the racing and the betting - gains traction with them, it will prove a fruitless exercise long-term.

We live in a world of generally low investment returns - you get paid, you pay your outgoings, if you have savings or investments it's all long-term low rate of return - so the chance to turn a tenner into fifty quid in two minutes (by having £40/£10) or outright lose that tenner with a bet on a 4/1 poke at Wolves on a Friday night injects a bit of temporary excitement into an otherwise often banal existence for many.

Absolute 400% profit or absolute loss of that tenner - in minutes.

And if you bet a winner and, instead of following some tipster, you actually accessed info on some level and picked it yourself, all of a sudden that £40 you just won becomes a life achievement.

The eternal human nature-driven buzz from that is what gets people hooked of any generation on racing and that's what they need to find a way of selling to a young adult 2026 audience.
 
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Ian_Davies said:
A lot of sense in this, I think - I've made similar points.

My (boomer) generation in our youth often bemoaned the inability of our parents and grandparents to move with the times - now many of them are doing the exact same thing.

It's the circle of life, each generation waits a generation for "their time," when they will "inherit the Earth" and it will reflect the values of their generation.

But it never quite pans out like that - there are always subsequent generations already knocking at the door.

Their way is not our way, nor should it be.

A combination of watching racing on TV, a Maths teacher who was into racing, reading Dick Francis's autobiography and persuading my Dad to take me racing (after which he got the bug too) in 1977 was my way in.

And I was never a party animal - at uni I was a form and betting geek, post-uni I had a mortgage at 22, and was spared the ravages of lads nights out by the infinitely more appealing option of dinner "etc" with a then steady gf who worked in a care home, but was socially upwardly mobile, basically took over my Docklands apartment and might also have been described as "Kelly Bundyesque," but for the fact she was British Indian.

However, even though now at 62 I don't have the same Friday night partying interests as someone aged 22 (not least because I didn't have those interests when I was 22 either) I can relate.

I actually think it's selfish of some of my generation to trash initiatives like this simply on the grounds it offers nothing to them personally.

But, perhaps like pawras, I also maintain that getting people to try going racing once is a lot easier (and a lot less valuable) than getting them to go racing and then become a repeat consumer of the racing product.

DJ and speed dating bolt ons etc may well get them in that first time but, unless racing's USPs compared to other nights out - the racing and the betting - gains traction with them, it will prove a fruitless exercise long-term.

We live in a world of generally low investment returns - you get paid, you pay your outgoings, if you have savings or investments it's all long-term low rate of return - so the chance to turn a tenner into fifty quid in two minutes (by having £40/£10) or outright lose that tenner with a bet on a 4/1 poke at Wolves on a Friday night injects a bit of temporary excitement into an otherwise often banal existence for many.

Absolute 400% profit or absolute loss of that tenner - in minutes.

And if you bet a winner and, instead of following some tipster, you actually accessed info on some level and picked it yourself, all of a sudden that £40 you just won becomes a life achievement.

The eternal human nature-driven buzz from that is what gets people hooked of any generation on racing and that's what they need to find a way of selling to a young adult 2026 audience.
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I made a lot of money in my 20s but they were very different shall we say as I had fk all but memories to show for it by 30 lol.

Anyway as you said people like easy money, and it would encourage repeat customers at courses if attendees associated winning money at the courses themselves, hence why I’ve prev voiced different places the idea of a pool bet purely for those attending the meeting that day.

My rough idea being as part of the ticket price £1 goes into a pool and on entry people get a meeting specific placepot slip which they can fill in and take to the tote booth if they want to try and win.

After the 6th race the winner(s) are announced and they are publicly handed their winnings in cash on a suitable podium. If no one directly wins the placepot it goes to those nearest to winning, but no rollovers and one or more people are handed cash that day for being on course and taking part.

Winners might get tenners or thousands depending on the attendance and number of winners but I’m sure they’ll tell people they won x £s on their day out on course.

As it’s only one betting slip per entrance ticket it’s for small players only as meant to be and attendees know that 1-n people went home with money in their hands because they turned up that day.
 
maureen said:
My son asked me to take my granddaughter to a meeting when she got interested in horses a couple of years ago but I refused as I was scared that there might be fallers. If I do take her in the future it will be to a Nottingham flat meeting ( although she’s now more keen on football).
Click to expand...

If you don't want her to see athletes rolling around on the turf in the throes of agony then I'd avoid going to a Forest game. Thankfully at the City Ground they quickly recover and play on.
 

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