The erst while Tamerlo posted a thread a few days ago asking "Where Is Racing Going?" Well the truth is, as a spectator sport, it's going nowhere. And why should it? The populace at large don't give a flying fig about racing, hunt or flat. There is so much on offer in the entertainment industry these days, that young people wouldn't touch horse racing with a barge pole. Just ask a non racing youngster what they think of racing and a fair percentage will mention animal cruelty. Others will say that it as boring as bat ****. Sure, new comers can be attracted, but most non fans will not be swayed by the so called majesty of the noble animal, belting around a race course. The average racing fan can easily counter, by pointing to the statistics indicating that racing is the second most popular sport in the country, so the sport must be pretty healthy. But if there is no problem, why is the issue spread all over the media? I could be wrong here, and if so, I apologise, but I seem to recall the BHA stating that race meetings were to severely cut next season. The reason being, that finances are so dire that it's now no longer possible to prop up clubs that can't stand alone. In Tam's article, a lot was made of what needs to be done, to draw new comers into the racing game. Some very good ideas were put forward by the knowledgeable pundits who inhabit this site. But it struck me that in some ways, the problem a bit like the Greenhouse issue we seem to hear about on a daily basis. All manner of fantastic ideas are espoused by some of the finest minds on the planet. But we have to learn to walk before we can run. The first thing to do, is to turn off the bloody lights, install energy saving devices and cut down on packaging etc. Which leads me to my rather long winded point. Do we racing fans do enough to support the cause? I know I don't. I go to the course once in a blue moon, so how can I expect a non race fan to make the effort? It's going to cost him/her an arm and a leg just to bet through the gate. Then the gouging at the food outlets is so criminal that the vendors should be forced to wear masks during the robbery. The world is now evolving at such a fast rate that I have no earthly chance of keeping up. But the young folk are embracing the new world with much gusto. It would seem that racing is destined to live on the margins when it comes to over all attendances. Even an old bloke like me can now revel in the advent of the Internet, where I can watch racing on the far side of the planet. No more grubby betting houses for me neither, (if I took up the punt again) I can now use an online company to do my business. We all want to live in the day of advanced technology. We want our cutting edge phones, televisions and sound systems, but we want to ambush our poor non racing saps and force them to become our saviors. We'll round 'em up every Saturday, sort of like conscription, and bus 'em all off the the local course, and then herd 'em through the turnstiles, whether they like it or not. Bugger 'em.
Unfortunately Cyc, you may have hit the nail on the head. I wonder if any meaningful surveys have been carried out on attendances. It would be nice to think they might not support your fears.
The stat that racing is the second most viewed sport is pretty meaningless, afterall there are a minimum of 4 race meetings every day, and it's the same people going to all these meetings. So with the quantity of meetings, ofcourse over a year it is going to get alot of spectators. You compare that to say Golf or Tennis, sports which only have 4 or 5 events in the UK each year. Also racing is one of the few sports that attracts spectators who don't spectate. For instance I live in Ascot, and half the people I talk to who went, didn't even see a race or even a horse for that matter, there to busy posing in there fancy outfits sipping champagne! The posers really piss me off, and the BBC promote it, with there coverage, who the **** wants to see a catwalk in the middle of the racing coverage, and who the **** wants to listen to some rear gunner with a stuck up accent talking about lady's hats. The sooner we get rid of the idiots who have no interest in our sport the better. Another thing I want to see banned from racecourses are TVs showing anything other than racing, when I was at Newbury for the Hennessy there were a load of ******s watching the football during the racing. You cant go to Wembley and watch the 2.45 at Newmarket out the back in the bar, so why can you go to a race course and watch the Arsenal game in the bar?
Hey Shergy, what are you doing up at this hour? I think that you are right about the racing numbers. I don't know what to make of the other attractions. I suppose the powers that be at each club, are pretty desperate. If they drop the entry and food prices, they have to make up the shortfall some other way. Horse racing in itself is not enough to attract a non racing fan, it hold all the attraction of ballroom dancing for these people. The people who could be tempted though, are those who already are fans of the sport, but who almost never visit the course. People like me. There must be millions of us out there, we are the folk who must be targeted. What can they offer me though? Very little it would seem. Even when we get the offer of free admittance, I still don't go. I've been there, done that. I can watch racing on television or stream it on computer if I have the need. I think that's where the problem lies, racing just isn't enough in this day and age. It's only the dedicated who regularly visit the courses of the land, who are really keeping some of these small tracks afloat, and as valuable as they are, they can't hold back the tide of the times. That I think is why race courses are trying anything and everything to get people to the track. We may not like fashion on the course, but it's just a way of trying to get more of the fairer sex to take an interest in the sport. Every little bit helps.
Hi, Cyclonic. A lot of good points here- not least referring to me as "erstwhile." I've been called many things before but never that. You're right, though, I'm just a throwback to another time and place - a dinosaur really. You compare racing with the 'greenhouse issue,' but isn't racing "erstwhile" and the latter an example of the modern technological age? Yes, we have progressed remarkably in science and technology, but no-one will convince me we've progressed as human beings! I suppose racing has to cope with the fact that there are so many interests and diversions available to the current generation- where once we only had the Home Service radio relay, football in long shorts, and old 78's spinning on the record deck. More than we ever did, we have to accept that racing is just one thing in life and we either take what we want from it- or ignore it altogether. Ultimately we have a choice. Do we embrace the technology which says I can communicate with an Australian at 6 o'clock in the morning who posts an Article on a computer- or do we throw it all in the rubbish bin and go back to sucking halfpenny spanishes on the canal bank? Personally I like both, but when it comes to racing, I certainly don't want some politically correct politician or administator solving the problem- because he'll certainly f-ck it up. He'll make a war out of it and then let the man in the street go out and die in it to prove his point. Let's enjoy racing and take out of it what we want as individuals. We should all meet up on the 'rails' sometime and watch them thunder up to the winning post; and just smile!
You'd better watch what you're doing here Tam, you risk drawing a racing platform into the realm of philosophy. I guess I was a little remiss in referring to your good self as "erstwhile," maybe I just made the mistake of casting you in my own light. "We should all meet up on the 'rails' sometime and watch them thunder up to the winning post; and just smile!" You gotta just love this medium. I can sit on my bum, (I can't sit on someone else's backside) and all manner of gems come filtering down through the ether. You da' man Tam.
Cyclonic, no, you're not remiss- I quite like the term "erstwhile." Perhaps I should visit Australia for the first time- it looks like an "erstwhile country!" (Ha!Ha!); and then follow Arkle Supreme into the billabong! (If you remember my old 606 Article).
Lol Cyc I'm always up early, I'm a terrible sleeper, il go bed 10, and I'm wide awake by 3 or 4, I'm not one for lie ins, once I wake up I get up! I can understand your point, but I dint see why racing should have to jump on the back of other interests to get people through the gate. Is it really good for racing having a load of unkowledgable ******s dressed up in fancy suits and frock's the sort of arse holes who couldn't even tell you who the current champion jockey is, or who won last years Derby. Ascot is the biggest even of the flat season, and it has the best racing of the whole year, so surely that's what the week should be about. We don't go to a football World Cup match and sit sipping champagne out the back so why does it happen at race meetings. Race meetings should promote the actual races, not the fasion, or any other crap for that matter. It's about time our sport is taken bait more seriously
Shergar has it spot on. Getting sick and tired of the way that racing is marketed as a cocktail party and lots of people who go on the course these days get so pissed they can hardly stand up and end up fighting putting everyone else at risk. Don't get me wrong, i love a pint or two when i go but too many get off their faces and the usual laws of not seving people who've had too much are suspended in an effort to rake in the dough.. And the security is rubbish. I dread to think what Saturday at Sandown will be like - I've stopped going because of the idiots.
Racing attendances are holding up well,all are here for the past few years. http://aes.hblb.org.uk/Attend5.nsf/genAttendanceEnquiry?OpenForm&1&0&06&2011
What it doesn't tell us though Utter is the demographics. If for example 50% of the present attendees are dead, or too old/incapable of getting to the races in 10 years time, will that 50% be replenished by younger population. In France they tend to attract families by making provision for children and not charging extortionate admission fees (often, women and children are free). Presumably the hope is that families bring children and a % of those children will get hooked and they will one day bring their children etc.
Ron, the French giving something for free! They haven't done that since De Gaulle gave free entry into the French Foreign Legion.
It's true Tam. Admission to Deauville - La Touques (a short stroll from the town centre) is entirely free, except for August when it still very cheap.
