It is also a problem for people who don't want to get smashed as you end up surrounded by people making right nuisances of themselves. I like a drink as much as anyone but I do think racecourses can be quite irresponsible as there don't appear to be any checks on how pissed people are. It's an accident waiting to happen.
This is one complicated problem. Racing wants more people through the gate and business wants a bigger return in it's investment. The more eyes on the tv, the more revenue for networks and those who buy advertising will also be hoping for a better bottom line. The more viewers, the better chance of dragging folks into the racing fold, be they once a year punters or hardened addicts. This moving the race time back is done in the hope of a better all round result. Obviously, it's not done to give racing a kick in the arse. The down side is the once a year visitor and his/her cronies who only want a fun day out. A few bets, a skin full off piss and memories to laugh about for ages. It's human nature. Racing can't have it both ways, a higher profile means a healthy bunch of respectable types will attend or be attracted to the sport, but you'll also get the party crowd. The other options are stagnation or decline. Do many of us really care all that much about a bunch of drunken party folk? If I see some smashed bloke fall flat on his face or spew down his shirt, I don't mount my high horse, I usually get a laugh out of it. My day at the races is more than a 30 second viewing of someone's **** faced antics, it's about who I'm with, the horses, riders, colours, punting, food, drink, weather, chats with strangers getting out of the bloody carpark, where I can take a whizz etc. If moving the race time can help the sport, even if only in the smallest degree, then go for it.
Dex, I will not argue the point about “quite recently” but you are right that it used to be run at 3:20. I went searching amongst some boxes of old stuff and found the marker board list for the 1990 Grand National. I remembered that I had kept it because it was one of the rare years that I had backed the winner – Mr Frisk (16/1) – as the going was Good and he was a top-of-the-ground horse. The runner-up was Durham Edition (9/1), the third was Rinus (13/1 – when have you ever seen that SP again?) and the fourth was the favourite Brown Windsor (7/1); twenty of the thirty-eight starters finished with Gala’s Image falling at the first. I do think that they should go back to the “4m 4fur” race distance. I never understood why they shortened the race to try and stop the rush to the first fence instead of just moving the first fence nearer to the start to achieve the same effect. The race has lost some of its appeal to the general public because many of the no-hope outsiders these days run like their odds and the once-a-year punter wants to get a run for his 50p each-way even if he gets nothing back – the dream of the 100/1 winner from the yard with six horses has pretty much evaporated as the quality of those at the top of the handicap was improved – plus the animal rights people do little in the race’s interest.
