What do you see as racing's biggest problem ?

Diamond Geezer

Diamond Geezer

Gone But Not Forgotten
Joined
May 2, 2003
Messages
13,884
What puts you off most ?

Take your pick from the fixture calendar , BHA handicap marks ,lack of decent prize money ,inconsistent stewarding,most of the top races apart from the festivals being on at the weekend, betting plots, non triers, drugs or something else :ninja:
 
I am not sure whether you are looking for just one, or a list. Here are mine.

Poor prize money.
Too much sh!te racing, particularly summer jumping and all-weather racing I have no problem with good summer jumping, and I welcome the new AW championships.
Not enough good racing in the UK on a Sunday.
Not enough good racing in the UK on Monday to Wednesday. Some of the cards at places like Ascot and Newbury and York are good on Thursdays and Fridays.
The perception that drugs in racing are swept under the carpet.
Uncompetitive graded contests over jumps in Ireland.
Overproduction of horses from too few stallions. Particularly over jumps.
The obsession with gambling any time racing is spoken about in the media.
 
Excessive tweed
Prize money for group/graded races esp in comparison to big handicaps
Quality of Sunday action
Shergar Cup
Post race jockey interviews
 
The fact that it is viewed as an old mans sport followed by mugs who put up with fixed races and handicap "coups"

Not at all fair of course but it has a shoddy image which last weeks events did not help

Didn't matter when only game in town but now it isn't

Also when I was in my twenties, it seemed that a good proportion of mates followed the sport to some extent. Now ? I wonder...
 
  • Newbury (and any other wanky course) with ridiculous dress codes
  • Low grade AW betting shop fodder
  • Lack of a break in the jumps season - should close down for a month sometime between May-Aug
  • Ridiculous fixture scheduling, in particular summer Saturdays. There should be minimum mileage between fixtures or a requirement for some kind of fair/sensible geographical spread
 
clivex said:
Also when I was in my twenties, it seemed that a good proportion of mates followed the sport to some extent. Now ? I wonder...
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I suppose that's because of the BBC necking it's coverage. When I was a teenager before getting into racing I still watched it because it was on Grandstand. I even remember being on holiday when I was ten and listening to The Minstrel's Derby on the radio. It's a bit too niche nowadays although social media might be helping. Racing needs to find a way to get these young football punters into the game.
 
- The sheer amount of yellow bibbed stewards at English race meetings telling you what to do.
- Trainers that juice their horses.
- The duopoly (oligopoly?) in flat ownership that is now infecting Irish jumping.
- Stag party drunkeness at weekend meetings.
 
-The Morning Line
-Mick Fitz
-Rory Jaw Ache of bet365

Not exactly the biggest problem but I have a problem with the sound when they are on.
 
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Irish Stamp said:
Corrupt individuals.
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The whole sport is institutionally corrupt.
While-ever the authorities and the media turn a blind eye to training horses on the racecourse, running them over the wrong distance or the wrong ground, or riding them to deliberate disadvantage to gain a better mark or higher price, yet squeal like stuck pigs when someone profits from that knowledge - then it always will be, too.
 
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Morning line
All weather
Small field grade one novice races
Bookies reps on television
Lack of big name handicaps like the Victor Chandeller
Lack of exchange opposition to Betfair
Time racing pictures were upgraded to HD

And the ultimate scourge fishwives
 
Euronymous said:
I suppose that's because of the BBC necking it's coverage. When I was a teenager before getting into racing I still watched it because it was on Grandstand. I even remember being on holiday when I was ten and listening to The Minstrel's Derby on the radio. It's a bit too niche nowadays although social media might be helping. Racing needs to find a way to get these young football punters into the game.
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Slightly off the topic of the thread question but nevermind
I vividly remember as an 8 year old watching the 1993 void Grand national
Then a year later my dad going down the bookies on the Saturday morning and putting £1 on Minnehoma for me (I liked the name) @16/1
Needless to say I was chuffed with the £15 (The cheeky sod kept the pound) :lol:
 
The one thing (for me) that's racing's biggest problem is the power of the bookmakers.

All the other problems stem from that, I reckon.

The only thing that would sway from that opinion is if we got rid of bookmakers (at least off course to begin with) and the other problems persisted.
 
fonz said:
Then a year later my dad going down the bookies on the Saturday morning and putting £1 on Minnehoma for me (I liked the name) @16/1
Needless to say I was chuffed with the £15 (The cheeky sod kept the pound) :lol:
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You wuz robbed. Even if he kept the pound you should have got £16 (as he'd have picked up £17).
 
1. The industry being in thrall to the bookmakers

2. The dumbing down of NH racing.....will it still be here in 2034?

3. Loutish, yobbish behaviour on the racecourse......yes it applies to the blokes as well!

4. Prize money...less than £20k for a Grade 1 at Newbury?? Racecourse Excetutive, hang your head in shame.

5. Poor treatment of owners on most racecourses (with a small handful of notable exceptions).

6. All-weather dross. The UK is trying its best to turn itself into the USA in many respects, and racing is no exception.
 
A few facts and figures from 2013


Total crowds up 1.76% to 5,679,941, second biggest spectator sport after football although average attendances down by 2.58%.
Nonetheless Chepstow's average was up by 24%

Lowest average racecourse attendances

Kempton 1,285

Lingfield 1,262

Southwell 901

Wolverhampton 732
 
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1.All weather racing in general (crap)
2.red chords and tweed (c@@@@)
3.poor prize money.
4.Trainers not willing to run their horses against each other or anything half decent before the festival.
5.Extortionate prices at meetings.
6.Nick Luck and the Northern tosser sidekick.
 
Diamond Geezer said:
A few facts and figures from 2013


Total crowds up 1.76% to 5,679,941, second biggest spectator sport after football although average attendances down by 2.58%.
Nonetheless Chepstow's average was up by 24%

Lowest average racecourse attendances

Kempton 1,285

Lingfield 1,262

Southwell 901

Wolverhampton 732
Click to expand...

I wouldn't go to any of them if it was free.
 
Euronymous said:
I suppose that's because of the BBC necking it's coverage. When I was a teenager before getting into racing I still watched it because it was on Grandstand. I even remember being on holiday when I was ten and listening to The Minstrel's Derby on the radio. It's a bit too niche nowadays although social media might be helping. Racing needs to find a way to get these young football punters into the game.
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That's hasn't helped but big problem is that there are so many other sports to watch. I got Ito racing partly because there was not a lot else on before the football. Hard to reverse that one

It's a fair point that attendances are up but it's nowhere near the type of crowd it used to be. Credit to the industry for keeping that strong though

A good step in right direction would have been to make RUK free to air. The quality of its coverage would have drawn people in to what is a fascinating sport when projected in right way. Very short sighted and clueless marketing not to have made this available
 
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