The biggest is that one where they boot around a bag of air* for ninety minutes while their lawyers sort out super injunctions so the tabloids do not tell on them sleeping with any old slapper that takes their fancy. Trouble is that this statistic ignores the fact that one of these sports takes place all year round on at least six days of the week and at least two or three venues a day. What is the fascination with this Liz from Atomic Kitten? I am sure I read something the other day about one of her colleagues continuing to dig even though the hole was already well above head height. (* not John McCririck)
An interesting thread and a top quality article Tamerlo. My thoughts on the matter are as follows. I have been 'involved' with the sport from an early age and therefore have a bit of an insider view, as well as that of the fan. In that respect i think i can understand both the views of the watcher and the watched. I totally understand the need for racing to promote itself, to attract new audiences, to increase attendances, etc, etc. However i am strongly of the belief that we are going about this in the wrong way. Racing should be promoted as the great, exciting, historical sport that it is. It should not be downgraded to be a 'social event' for people to get drunk at whilst listening to some music, with the annoyance of having horses delaying that start of the performance. I cannot understand why the people responsible for advertising racing seem to lack any confidence whatsoever in the product they are trying to sell. Instead of selling racing for what it is, they seem to find it necessary to try to sell it from behind a false facade of alternative entertainment. As an example of this i will use my own experiences. I am at Cambridge University and have always been shocked and appalled at the lack of interest and knowledge in racing from the public. My friends know all about the fashion at Royal Ascot and the other things that have been advertised. This would suggest that they are taking in what is being put in front if them, but the fact is that what is being put in front of them is not the correct material. The Cheltenham Festival 2011 fell convniently at the end of term and i suggested to a few of my friends that we go down on the Tuesday. I promised them brilliant racing but nothing else. There was no music, no getting drunk, no afterparty etc, just pure and brilliant racing. I asked my whole house of 8 people, all of whom were keen to come, but infortunately three were unable to attend because of work committments. However, persuading 5 student mates who were not interested in racing whatsoever to fork out £30ish was a challenge. I was confident that by emphasising the sporting aspect that i would be able to convice them and get the oportunity to show them what they were missing. The overriding feeling i got was that they were keen to understand why i love the sport so much and for that reason were happy to take a punt on enjoying the day. In the end a brilliant day was had by all. I was (fortunately) able to supply a few winners, but most of all it was the performances of the equine athletes that they seemed to enjoy. None of us had backed Quevega (stupid i know) but still they were perfectly able to appreciate her tremendous performance and how great it was. in other words it was the sport itself that they enjoyed. As a result, every person who came with me last year is keen to go next season. Everyone who didn't go is keen to make sure thay can make it this time. Some are even suggesting going on more than one day. I have people keen to come with me to Newbury for the Hennessy in the autumn and so on. Whilst i fully appreciate that the sport that they witnessed was the best of the best, i think the moral of the story is the same: the sport should be advertised and sold for what it is, a brilliant and exciting sport. There is no need for anything else. In actual fact i would go so far as to say that the alternative promotions (bar certain exceptions such as Newmarket nights) detract from the sport. I can fully appreciate that they may increase crowd numbers in the short term, but this is not the most important factor. What needs to be done is to increase the number of the racing public. We have to educate people so people can understand and appreciate the sport. Selling them something else may convince them to come racing but it does nothing to aid the long term future of the sport. It is a delicate but essential difference. The example above concerns jump racing but i feel the same is true and even more applicable for the flat. I think the most important point is that, as a sport, we should be trying to attract people to come racing. We should not be trying to attract people looking for just a day out. I think it is of the utmost importance that this change is implemented. Changing the product and its promotion may help boost attendance in the short term but a longer term focus is needed. This is one of the reason why i think the Quipco Champion Series may prove beneficial because it may enable people to understand how racing works and provide an easier template to understand, provided that it is promoted in the right way. The authorities repsonsible must start trying to educate and promote racing in such a way as to enable the uninitiated to understand and appreciate the true excitement and beauty of the sport. I'll end there before i waffle on any more. Sorry for the long post but this is an issue i feel quite strongly about. I just think the focus is all wrong.
Some really good points there Zenyatta. I was also brought up in a racing environment and I will never forget my first saturday afternoon at University. I went down to the TV room which was packed for the ITV football preview 'On The Ball'. That was followed by the racing (the ITV Seven) - the whole room emptied except when the racing came on. It was a real eye opener and was the first time it dawned on me that racing was a minority sport if you took away the gamblers. I think racing needs to focus on what works and reduce its reliance on the bookmakers. The betting exchanges should be outlawed as far as racing is corncerned - this would significantly reduce the corruption and eliminate the ludicrous situation where people congratulate themselves for finding losers. It should all be ablout backing winners (as well as owning, training and riding them of course). Less dependence on the bookies will enable the sport ot reduce the amount of low-grade racing, although this would have to be a gradual fading out as currently a lot of people rely on it for their living. Racing could then focus on constructing flat and jumping seasons around the big meetings and festivals. We should go back to having two meetings per day on weekdays with the odd evening meeting - and more racing at weekends and bank holidays. And only have racing on the occasional Sunday and only for one quality card. Get rid of all-weather - we have the best and most varied turf tracks in the world and that is what makes our sport great. I appreciate some tracks might go under but they survived before the mushrooming of meetings so would probably still do so. It is all about having a quality product and getting back to the winning of any race anywhere being a great achievement.
