High Admission Prices

May 29th, beautiful Friday evening at Tramore, very good nh card, very disappointing crowd. Same evening at Towcester, free admisson, brilliant crowd and fantastic atmosphere. Prices need to be greatly reduced. Bring the crowds back and make up the admission prices in the bars and restaurants !!

15 euro into leopardstown over summer will not encourage non-racegoers to attend the meeting and stay for the after racing entertainment.10e should be max entry fee people will attend and stay and spend in the bars into the evening. There should also be a mini season ticket for the evening meeting over the summer 50e entry covering entry to all evening meeting.

all they do keeping the prices high is limit attendance, surely they could work out if they dropped the price a lot more people would go and spend money on parts of the course.

Everyone would be a winner

The Curragh have made a start but its not enough. Tracks like Punchestown and Galway charge insane prices for admission. Admission should be reduced to €10 at all tracks and the racegoers would start to return. Give it a try for 6 months

I HAVE NO Problem paying 20 euro into the curragh for top class racing, but KILLBEGGAN CHARGING 15 EURO TO WATCH 74 T0 95 HURLDLES IS A JOKE, SAME WITH ROSCOMMON , LIMERICK 20 EURO LAST SATURDAY, THESE RACECOURSE MANAGERS WOULD WANT TO GET REAL, FOOD ALSO STILL A COMPLETE RIP OFF AT MOST TRACKS,IN GENRAL MOST THINGS HAVE COME DOWN IN PRICE, IF RACETRACKS DONT START DROPPING PRICES SOON, THEY DESERVE TO HAVE POOR CROWDS.

its the same in uk they think bus drivers are mp s

A LARGE GROUP OF LADS ON A STAG FROM GALWAY ARRIVED AT LIMERICK LAST SATURDAY NIGHT AND ASKED FOR A GROUP RATE AND WERE TOLD THEY ALL HAD TO PAY €20 EACH AND THEN ANOTHER €3 EACH FOR THE CARD. NOT EVEN THE LAD WHOSE STAG IT WAS WAS GIVEN ANY DISCOUNT. THESE LADS STILL PROGRESSED TO SPEND LOADS OF MONEY AT THE BAR DRINKING OUT OF PLASTIC!!! CUPS AND BETTING ON EVERY RACE. I WONDER IF THEY WILL BE BACK AGAIN…….
WELL DONE BRIAN ON HIGHLIGHTING THIS ISSUE, WE LOVE OUR SPORT BUT IT WOULD BE GREAT TO SEE OTHER PEOPLE ENJOYING IT TOO.
SEA THE STARS PAID FOR MY ADDMISSION TO LIMERICK, THANKS FOR THAT TOO.

Go to races a lot and have never been more board than at leopardstown last week.Poor quality horses all evening and everyone was just getting through the evening, even though there was group class racing.We all spoke about it on the way home!The only answer is definitely free entry to all these meetings,even on a trial basis for the summer.
By the way its been just as bad if not worse at many national hunt meetings in the dublin regions all last winter,so its not fair to think its an anti flat thing that some press go on about constantly! The commuter belt counties are hurting and people are not attending any pay in sports as before when they can see it all on tv elswhere for free.

I’m sorry, but I didnt really understand.
What is cavernously?

There is no incentive to go racing at the minute,I take a lot of what Brian says on board,but maybe we should look at the bigger picture.
Every bookmaker in the country is offering guaranteed odds ( except on course bookies ) every bookmaker is offering double result ( except on course bookies ) most big firms offer special place terms on big handicaps but again this doesn’t happen on course.Of course satellite coverage has a lot to do with people opting to stay at home who can blame them?There is nothing as bad as backing a winner on course,then for the placings to be reversed,but,if you stayed at home and bet in your local bookie office you get paid!
Maybe the powers that be could look into this matter and see what can be done to rectify it.
Finally as an Annual Badge holder for the Curragh for many years they have reciprocal meetings where Curragh members can get free entry to about 30 meetings throughout the year , great idea I hear you say,you would think that the admission would cover most tracks in the area Naas,Punchestown,Leopardstown,Gowran etc? Well you’d be wrong because they cover tracks like Newmarket,Flemington etc
I like many people in Kildare love racing,we have to it’s all around us,but the course managers (especially the Curragh) must surely realise things will have to improve quickly or they wont get the people through the gates.It will take much more than a new coat of paint on the roof of the stand (which had to be redone as the rust reappeared) to improve the racing experience for us long suffering punters

Well said Paul. One thing you forgot to mention is the free teas and coffees in betting offices. No chance of a free cup of tea at a race course in the near future. The first €20 beef roll can’t be too far away either.

i was at a few meetings recently on the southern circut and they were very sparsly attended.what stuck me also was the older age profile of the attendees and the amount of bookies standing.id say its a tough job these days.the price of drink(ala 5e pint in plastic glass) and food(salty soup or stogy roll with a slice of beef) defies belief at times.and people are voting with their feet.the summer festivals will be a good test.its a sad situation if the powers that be dont grasp the nettle before its too late.i wouldnt agree totally with free admission but maybe 10/15 euro would be ok.

I do not have a problem with a 20 euro admission but then to pay 3 euro for a race card is a bit steep. It should be all in for 20 euro. But I think rip off Ireland starts at the track.How can they charge 5 euro for a three quater full plastic pint of warm beer and then 10 euros for a piece of boiled meat in a stodgy roll

The business model that supports Irish racing is the real culprit that has the Industry in crisis. Comments such as Brians indicates a failure to understand the revenue stream in Irish racing, the bulk of the revenue stream that the racecourse receives is from the gate. Any dilution in this would result in a deepening of the crisis that the industry is facing.
Remember that once the punter passes throught the gate it’s the bookmaker and the caterer that get the remainder of the monies. HRI seem obsessed with attendance figures more to support their existence and that of the sport. They would actively encourage free admisson to tote account holders etc… but where is the revenue to the track from that.

As a racing addict, I object more to the idea of spending €3 on a poxy racecard than forking out €15 on admission to the likes of Leopardstown or Kilbeggan, especially when the Racing Post is €2.50.

But for occasional racegoers or non-addict, this sort of rip off after spending €15 or €20 to get in the gate is surely a turn off, and only really acceptable if racecourses were charging only nominal entry fees. Bottom line is that a day at the races isn’t cheap entertainment by any means.

Regarding Tim Dineens point on HRI’s obsession with attendances, word has it that in leopardstown and fairyhouses recent midweek meetings (HRI tracks), the racecourses included stable lads and trainer numbers from the stableyard in their attendance figures, in a sad attempt to boost figures

Paying to get into a racetrack is bizzare in my opinion.
Ok fair enough a small fee would not be soo bizzare - say five euro
but anything more than that is bizzare..people are going there to have bets
or others to drink and eat and have fun - so either way people dont want to
have to pay 20 euro and then still have to pay the very high prices for drinks and food!!

Everything about going to a race is now flawed, far better off to go down to a pub with a big screen with food and a pint at half the price of going to any course at the moment

A sad day that going to a pub to watch the races is a better experience

I recently went to Leopardstown from Carlow: e20 petrol. e15 admission. e3 racecard. e9.50 for a bad burger and chips from a van. I wagered e100 over the evening and lost e40. Total cost of evening e87.50. Cost of watching in bookies in Carlow, with free tea, biscuits (chicken on saturdays!) very comfortable surroundings, e40. Telling people you have been to the races these days is like driving a ‘09 SUV, you’re gonna get some funny looks.

Like all flagging business if the HRI don’t start to look at racing from the customers perspective FAST they’re going to be in real trouble. Anybody been to Gowran recently? Thought not…

The festival meetings are coming up and it will be interesting to see how the numbers hold out. I took the liberty of checking the admission charges for Galway this year..they are planning to charge €30 each on the Wednesday and Thursday. If I bring my partner or girlfriend to the Galway races on this day it will cost me €66 (includes 2 racecards) just to go through the gates and this is before I have a bet or a drink. In the present climate this is just outright screwing the customer. It would be very useful if the racecourse management made a statement through this site explaining how they can justify these prices.

Hi,it’s Paul back again,the comments left by David and John B are spot on, I couldn’t have put it better myself! But seriously what John B suggested about the racecourse management issuing a statement is an excellent idea,but maybe we should take it a step further,why don’t they have a meeting and invite people with a ‘genuine’ interest in improving facilities across the country where people like ourselves could air our opinions and let the people at the top hear what the racing public really think!!!
I would presume that senior people in HRI are reading this discussion,and suggest that they act and make a day at the races a much better experience for ‘ everyone’!!!!!

Did it ever cross anybodys mind that the racecourses may not really mind how many customers pay through the turnstiles at certain meetings,just so long as the punters at home, on the exchanges, and in the offices keep betting away while watching live irish racing via At The Races ect.Rumour has it that each track now gets over 30k per meeting from live coverage paid within a few weeks.This more than covers any loss in footfall on track and is guaranteed income which would make any dull afternoon profitable!
This is how it is in Australia where outside the carnival meetings where going racing becomes a national obsession,with money no object,generally most normal meetings attract tiny attendances on track but reversely have massive betting pools running into millions daily on all races wagered on betting terminals which are in every pub,filling station,newsagent ect.
All the while here at home, HRI pour cash into racing ambassadors and best dressed competitions which have no relivance to normal racegoers and only attract the social crowd who breeze in for the day and move on to the next freeby!

Agree with C. Power 100%. My local course is Towcester. Free admission and free car parking. My friend went to the last meeting and said that you couldn’t move.

When will others cotton on?

Has an Irish course got the courage to follow their example?

I went to Punchasetown on the Thursday of the festival and was very dissapointed. e30 to get in, bad food and expensive drink. There was not much of a crowd there given that it was a lovely day and very good racing. Now, go to Keeneland on a nice sunny day $3 to get in great food and there are 30,000 there on the weekends. I will admit there may only be 10,000 there on a rainy Thursday, but how many will be in Fairyhouse on a rainy Thursday at e20 to get in!! HRI look at how America charges their patrons.

simple fact is racing is too expensive ,i went racing every week without fail now i am choseing my meetings and only going if there is a decent looking card,and with most of the decent national hunt on ther summer break so am i

The 20% discount by booking online is almost negated by a e3 booking fee also in many cases. the real nub of the problem is that there are too many substandard racecourses that drain resources. it’s like constantly renovating an old house, eventually you have to knock it and rebuild.
Eight tracks is plenty, one all-weather a couple of dual turf/all weather tracks and a brand new Curragh, and Leopardstown for the Group races and more use made of Galway would be a better overall plan for an industry that may soon lose exchequer support. the north/south/east/west motorway completions shouldn’t disadvantage anyone to a great extent either

MW’s comments are quiet relevent. The Australian example ( some states only) is rather similar to the French model where all betting is controlled by the racing authority thereby large payments to tracks by way of the retained divident - currently 20% by Tote Ireland, though you’d have to wonder what Alexis Muprhy and his boys are doing considering that they ran deficits last year. However when one considers that the bookmakers pay only a .5% levy on what’s bet at all Irish tracks we can begin to understand why the admissions prices and food prices are what they are. The Prix de L’arc is €9 admission with fantastic racing food, drink on offer at very affordable prices, however the dividend returned to the track from the national betting could run to millions which allows them to subsidise entry, food prices etc… Therefore maybe HRI should start focusing on how the business is funded and stop relying on State subventions to allow them to prop up and industry where the majority of the prize money is being won by Tax exiles, in addition the marketing of racing by HRI needs a radical overhaul….time for HRI to start looking internally at changes….the dogs are knocking the socks of them due to clever marketing and product positioning.

Tim, you make a number of valid points, but the bookmakers on-course are also feeling the pain. There numbers are dramatically down at all tracks. They pay 6-times the entry price to each racecourse each day, 0.5% of turnover to HRI, pay a daily fee for their electronic boards and wages to at least a staff of two. They also have travel expenses.
After all of that they may actually lose on the day. Ok, Festivals like Galway are like shooting fish in a barrel for them, but those days are becoming less and less. Their margins have also been cut by having to compete with the exchanges.
Have a look at the amount of pitches that are for sale on www.goracing.ie.
HRI have pinpointed the off-shore betting money as a potential source of funding, but this will be extremely difficult to police and legislate.
For my mind ATR is as big an issue. If races were not broadcast live into every home more people would be more inclined to make the effort to go racing.

Fairyhouse yesterday was the norm, 15E entrance fee, 3E Racecard, 5.40E for a Pint, bad service in the bar. why cant they still charge me the 15E but give me the racecard and maybe a beverage or voucher for food included. ideal opportunity to meet people after work during the summer months whether it be family or friends. No effort made, wake up HRI.

€15 into Tipperary tonight for a six race card of shocking quality. Hardly surprising there were only about 200 people there. Wouldn’t they have been better off just opening the gates and saving on paying the stiles men for the night? As for Limerick, they’re a hungry shower, I’m surprised they don’t charge the jockeys going in to be honest.

The point made above is absolutely correct that you get mugged at the track everywhere you turn, double result (nope), you back an outsider at the track you can be sure it’s about 50 points higher at home on the exchanges, disgraceful food prices for muck. As said above, the €20 hot beef roll isn’t far away! I remember buying one for £3 only a few years ago. You can go to the French Derby for less than a tenner, in York you can buy a bottle of decent Champagne for £30. In Ireland you’d be drilled for at least a ton for the audacity of enjoying yourself with a bottle of bubbly in this manner. Is it any wonder you only ever see decent looking women at the track for the very big meetings, you couldn’t bring a woman you had any regard for to most of the gaffes. There’s so little focus on the customer it’s criminal.

As far as I can see the only people going racing now are connections, bookmakers, racing officials, journalists and a few die hards. The guy above who said the dogs are hammering them is dead on, but then you can go to a classic like the Laurels Final for a tenner including a racecard, get a proper restaurant quality dinner for a reasonable price and get decent service.

You simply cannot compare the US model, or that of most of the rest of the word, to the Irish and British model. They are financed completely differently. US racing is finianced by pari-mutuel takeout. About 15% of every dollar bet goes back into racing, into the purses (they have almost no sponsored races except for a handful of famous ones), and the upkeep of the course and employees. That is why they only charge a couple of bucks entry fee, even into such famous places as Belmont and Santa Anita. The idea is to let people in cheap so they gamble more. The takeout in Japan is over 20%, that’s why they have such huge purses. The same goes in France, the PMU takes a sizeable chunk of every Euro bet. That’s why they race for decent purses with only 23 people and a dog watching.

Irish racecourses have to charge a decent admission fee, how else are they going to make any money? They certainly aren’t getting 15% or ever bet placed with the bookies.

Also, as to the Keeneland example, the track is heavily subsidised by the Keeneland sales (all part of the same company), which is why admission was free for years and purses fat.

PS Sean you’re incorrect there to say eight tracks is plenty. If you take out the Curragh and Dundalk that would leave you with only six tracks to race on through the winter. Tracks raced on heavy going take three weeks to recover to any reasonable degree, there’s just no way six tracks could stand up to that. It would be a disaster. Also Galway is not suitable for winter racing at all. It is a summer track pure and simple.

The one decent legacy HRI could have left with all the millions they’ve been given would have been to buy Thurles and secure a robust NH course for the winter. This they’ve neglected to do, instead squandering money needlessly on obscene prizemoney. Thurles is a more important track to the industry than your Punchestowns and your Fairyhouses, yet it is in a perilous position.

If you really want to have admission like the rest of the world you would have to do away with bookies and online exchanges and only have Tote betting. Are ye willing to do that?
Thought not.

I have been a great enthusiast of NH racing for the past 40 years or so since the Arkle days when I was a teenager,the flat racing scene never appealed to me very much.My wife and I were regulars at the Leopardstown christmas meetings and Jan /Feb meetings there also.For the past couple of years we have given it a miss because we felt we were being ripped off by the inflated two tier admission prices we were being charged,the plethora of free tickets which seemed to be in circulation for people,with no obvious interest in the racing,taking advantage of a freebie.Nobody wanted to listen to the genuine complaints of people like myself during those Celtic Tiger years and,now that things are in freefall,the HRI seem to me to be totally clueless as to how to turn things around.

A piece of advice to the decision makers in the HRI,remove your blinkers and learn to listen to genuine,regular racegoers and act on their complaints and,maybe then,the races will avoid being run in front of three men and a dog.

Paul back again,reading all the comments with great interest,which goes to prove one thing,regular racegoers are very concerned about the direction which racing is heading,some come on the big wigs in HRI post a reply on this blog and address some of the issues which have been raised ‘ I DARE YOU’

Mike, i take your point about needing a top-class NH track and a revamped thurles could certainly fit the bill. but if we’re talking about removing the flab from irish racing do you really think we need all the tracks we have? I don’t see the industry collapsing after tralee’s closure. how many more are just hanging on? I just think there is a sound case for concentrating resources on a reduced number of tracks.
Thurles is not more important than Punchestown , but it’s certainly undervalued. we lost 43 + meetings in 2008 due to the weather. And if we left 3 weeks between heavy ground fixtures here we’d lose 3/4 of the season!

Sean,
Tralee is a summer track and those fixtures can be run anywhere as you can race on summer ground much more often as you’re only putting a print in it, not poaching it. If you think, six NH tracks is enough to service the industry during the winter then I think you’re mistaken. Even leaving aside the obvious impossiblility of this with regard to ground, you are going to be abandoning whole swathes of the country and the racing public in those areas. You have six NH tracks, lets say Punchestown, Fairyhouse, Thurles, Limerick, Cork and Galway. You’ll have no track at all in the southeast or north. It would be like closing down the game. Putting a couple of hundred fixtures into these six tracks would not be feasible. It looks nice and neat to consolidate but it’s not possible.

As another regular racegoer It is clear that racing is going to run into serious
trouble with this recession unless the racing board gets their act together and faces up to the fact that attendances and aggregates are dropping tenfold in recent months. Leopardstown is a valid case in point
where the last four meetings ( held on Thursdays) have been a complete
flop with sadly a “morgue” like atmosphere prevailing amidst sparse attendances. Even a couple of balmy nights did not swell the attendance nor last nite when Bulmers stepped in to sponsor a popular Dublin band in
the hope of raising the footfall figures. Last nite was no different. Surprisingly the racing board appears intent to put on dual race meetings during summertime when there is no appetite for same. People like me who live within five minutes drive of Leopardstown racecourse dont feel there is value to be had attending meetings in todays climate when admission prices
are set at levels when we all had more money in our pockets.

The Racing Board and racecourse managers need to WAKE UP fast before racing becomes an unviable proposition in what is still becoming a deep
and more likely deeper & prolonged recession.

What will actually happen to our racing if the GOVT is forced to pull back on the funding of racing in 2010 as it possible since our racecourses wont have the punters in first place to make the meetings viable.

hey i am a county monaghan fella training in new zealand,entry to all meetings should be free,if the tracks are not carefull only the trainers and some owners will be there,and once the crowds leave it is very hard to convince them to come back even if the economy picks up.

it is not possible to cut back on the number of tracks. from a demographic point of view we need all the existing tracks at the moment.. also by cutting the number of tracks it would not be possible to to condense the racing calender into as you say 8 tracks ..the owners and trainers need these meetings for their horses. after all racing is an industry employing tens of thousands. the problem lies with the h.r.i and the course managers. it seemed o.k to rip of the racegoer in the good times but now if the powers that be, dont give value for money the racegoer is gone and as said above once he/she is gone it is very hard to woe them back.

if attendances continue to decline all our racecourses wont b able to survive. pure and simple. 2 years ago balloting out was the big problem for owners and trainers. that won’t be a complaint for the next few years for sure. maybe 8 is too low. lets add two more. could we cope then? do we really need all of tramore, wexford, gowran, cork and the 3 tracks in Tipp within a 2 hr drive max of each other or galway, limerick, sligo, ballinrobe, roscommon, kilbeggan in the west? can they all survive? what if something happened to ATR and the e30k per meet? Should we start to consider racinos?

i believe that the 15e that is charged at the turnstiles is a huge problem. The people that run HRI - Brian Kavanagh & Denis Brosnan are so out of touch. They never have to pay into a meeting , never have to spend 3e on a racecard and never have to buy tea or coffee for 2.5e. They flash their HRI badges and are admitted for nothing.

Racecourses receive 30k from SIS per meeting and only 600e from attheraces, and therefore dont care how many punters come through the gates.

15 euro admission is a rip off. 3 euro race card is a rip off.

fairyhouse and leopardstown are like poorly attended funerals.

masterchefs and the kiosk man should be locked up. hri should immediately re tender all catering rights to the tracks. 2.5euro for a bottle of coke is scandalous. rip off minging beef rolls. kiosk man charging 1.60euro for a mars bar. there is no imagination. i have been going racing for many years and there doesn’t appear to be any forward thinking.

was at fairyhouse 2 weeks ago - no big screen. warm evening - no ice cream van. rip off masterchefs even ran out of food - they were so poorly stocked.

it’s all a bit sad.

c

I now believe that the Curragh will charge 40e admission for the derby next week. A 20 % decrease for those that can afford to go and 60% increase for those that would have used the un-reserved enclosure. If sea the stars doesnt show there will be a huge drop in attendance, which will lead to a huge drop in bookmaker turnover which will lead to a huge drop in the 0.5% that the racecourses benefit from. People have started to vote with their feet - note the pathetic crowds at fairyhouse & l’town over the last few weeks. The price increase for next week shows that the curragh, just like f’house & l’town, have also lost touch with the ordinary punter.

I have read with great interest the posts on this topic.

I am lucky enough to have owned and raced some horses around the country. I have been to most tracks, in fact I think nearly all tracks in this country at one stage or another.

I often used to go to meetings and look at the number of horses running on a particular day and then look at the crowd. In some instances, I don’t think there would have been any more than 200 paying customers through the turnstiles (and I am being generous). And the authorities wonder why? Attendance fees are too high and the standards which are allowed to exist are deplorable on all fronts of consumer expectations. As a few posts have said, we will be expected to end up paying €20 for a saggy beef roll shortly. What a joke.

The racetracks in general try to do their best with what they have, but given today’s situation and today’s standards, their best in my opinion is no longer good enough. I’m speaking generally here, as in my opinion there are some excellent facilities and very good venues, but the rip off culture still exists everywhere.

My understanding is the age profile of the attendees is getting older. Racing should be appealing to everybody from an early age. What facilities are there at most venues for a family day? Sweet damn all. Unfortunately horse racing tends to be run by those who were born into racing, and as a result don’t need the extra encouragement to become a racing fan. That may just be part of the problem. I developed my love for racing when I was a young, watching Noel Reid presenting Sports Stadium on a Saturday. We had only RTE1 and 2 when I was growing up, so it was something which bombarded me for a couple of hours on a Saturday. Today young people have more choice, so I’d bet won’t be watching ATR on a winter saturday in December. Racing has to appeal to the young people through a different route. If it doesn’t happen the decline in racing attendances will be terminal.

The whole business model of race courses needs to be examined. Until an innovator takes charge we will be left with the same sorry story of falling attendances, an ageing racegoer, to a backdrop of a rip off culture. The free entry should be trialled. With some thought there has to be a “Ryanair” model of revenue generation that can be inspired. What I mean is that the entry can be negligible or free, but there are other ways of generating revenue for the coffers of the racetracks. Now I am not advocating a complete “Ryanair” experience, but rather an examination of other ways of making money from the consumer, than just through the gate.

A lot of money was pumped into racing and the prizemoney is better now than it ever was, but outside of the hardcore breeders and owners, do the authorities not recognise that the ordinary owner, doesn’t care that the winner gets €7,000 instead of €5,000. He’d prefer to have more chances with more racing of having a winner. At the lower end of racing it can be difficult to get your horse entered in a race with the balloting system etc.. Without action on this also, the number of owners (syndicates, parterships etc) will fall. Paying monthly fees for a horse that may not run more than 3 times in a season coupled with the fact that you can’t plan your holidays to coincide with your horse running, is not entirely appealing. But that is a whole different argument.

here in New York its two dollars to get into Belmont, 10 dollars on Belmont Stakes day and over 50,000 paid.Its all about value for money and Irish race tracks have been price gouging for years. They obvious solution is to create parimutuel betting only and pump funds back into the business. 15 per cent of my betting dollars go into new york racing which is fine with me. No one will take on the bookmakers lobby however, which is what is needed, they put next to nothing back into the game.

I am amazed that it has taken this long for the racegoer to start complaining about admission prices and poor stanards at many of the race courses. Horse racing is such an important part of Irish culture and is being very poorly managed. Without proper attention being paid to the punter, there won’t be racing. Facilities need to be top notch and it is very important to attract young people and families or their is no future racegoer. Some of the previous comments speak of the US model. Many tracks in the US are strugling in a big way and several states have been forced to allow slot machines to attract a new generation of racegoer and I can tell you that I really hope that never happens in Ireland. Casino/slots do bring a different breed to the track, but not to see horse racing. It is sad to see a full parking lot and only a handfull of people in the stands. Irish management needs to reinvent itself and get more people to come racing by offering value to the paying customer and they need to start immediatley. Some excellent suggestions have been put forward, but it is going to come down to value for money and obviously the racing public are not satisfied with the present arrangement. Lets hope that someone is paying attention and act quickly, before any more damage is done…..

Its amazing how a seemingly low key article can exercise people enough to make contact and express their views. I love racing same as everbody here but I’m definitely going less than I used to, probably for all the reasons listed above. Has anybody tried contacting the Racegoers Forum as a way of getting their points heard ?

James O’Brien comment is 100% spot on.All one needs to do is look at where the racing experience is so much better than here.France,Hong Kong,USA etc. Auteil Gold Cup day 8.00 admission, food to die for and very reasonable in price,service without servility.Bookies are walking away with far too much leaving nothing behind for reinvestment.
In the short term it costs racecourse management nothing to be more demanding/vigilant of caterers etc regarding service,food quality etc.I always am amazed how it seems to be the same catering concerns year in year out doling out the same muck for big bucks.
Perhaps this weekend the “professional foodies” at the Curragh might be let loose to sample and give a critique of all that is the standard fare.Publish their comments.

would agree with most of above comments being an ex rider, owner and supporter feel there is little incentiveto payover the top admission for to be ripped again insidei know the individual courses have to try and keep their heads over water but something will have to change before its too late went to galway for 30 years got sick of the rip off for entrance food drink accomodation etc go to cheltenham in nov now far better value if i go racing here with my wife and childeren itis hard to justify the cost of admission something to eat a drink

We go to Longchamp every October for the Prix the LArc

6 Group one races - plenty of room for everybody - free buses
to and from Paris before and after races - all for 8 Euro admission -
Tote points, food drinks of every grade and price everywhere -

Result - huge crowds - this sums it up

barry

was at belmont park last week with my son,1dollar for parking,1 dollar each for admission and beautiful comfortable seating plus 9 races.Go back every year for my local races in listowel and charged E20 maybe to sit on concrete.there is one stand with some seating if you want to pay more but with paying E20 you should have seating in every stand with an average of 15-20 thousand people for 7 days.I feel now as soon as you get off the plane in ireland sad to say you are going to be ripped off.

It’s a tough situation. The problem with Irish Racing is the number of vested interests (Turf Club, Large Owners, Trainers Association, Racecourse Association, Stable Lads, Valets, Jockeys etc..)that are very happy with the current situation and see no reason to change and in fact are probably quiet happy that the racecourses are nearly empty.
I’ll make a few points:
- No Racecourse in Ireland would be a viable entity without capital grants from HRI, the TV money, Prize money from HRI (which comes from the tax payer and betting tax) and operational assistance from HRI / Turf club for things like stall handlers, stewards, clerks of the course etc..
- Racecourses in general make no money from catering as it is almost impossible to get a caterer to take the business on as the only time they make money is during the festivals and even then it is tight
- I won’t go into detail here but there are over 20 different entities on a racecourse that don’t contribute a bean to the racecourse but yet earn a living there
- HRI exec’s never pay into a race meeting and have access to a private area on most courses so are oblivious to the experiance of the general racegoer
- Racing has never properly quantified the value of sponsorship and relies on favours from the usual sources such as property developers who now have no money
- the obsession with prize money is again for vanity and for the large owners and trainers - like someone said earlier the small owners (like myself) just want to have a run (which is nearly impossible and may have to go to the UK), have a winner and a bit of craic - the prize money is not important - we love the sport and for us it is not a business
- it is true that with the exception of the northern tracks such as Down Royal, all attendences are grossly inflated
- facilities in general are not good enough to do enough non-race day business which is key
- there is a lack of passion for quality that permiates throughout the organisation

The sad thing is that there are people that care and have passion, drive and initiative in HRI but the organisation crushes this while paying lip service in the media to change etc..

I could go on but it would be too depressing…. The gas thing is that after saying all of this it is possible to turn the situation around and make racing vibrant and viable but this will not happen with the current HRI leadership.

bit long winded but there you go, had to get it off my chest.

If you go down the road of reducing the prize money you will end up with the same problem as in England,
Bookies (PP, WH and Lad) take all the money out of the game.
In France and Australia the game is self sustaning

Excellent blog and finally the authorities can hear the real voice of the punter… looks like Irish people have regained their respect for money!
Going racing is simply not value for money and unless this changes there will be a few more “Tralee’s”. €20 entrance fee is a right royal rip-off.

I agree that racecourse prices must be greatly reduced and that the fact is that to eat oncourse is a ripoff. racecourses may wish to simplify oncourse food and instead of charging burger vans, or food vendors in general large prices to setup on course for the day, should think about having their own cafe’s/ restaurant’s and run them as a business!! because they are only putting racegoers off my making them pay such high prices for a burger or steak sanwich for example(which are often por quality!!) It has to be said i dont know whether the restuarant at navan is run by the racecourse for the racecourse, or whether it is instead put out to tender, but certailnly it is good quality food which is not a rip off, and more of these types of restuarants at racecourses would be surely greatly appreciated.
i would also like to highlight a quite recent story, i was working at downroyal at the weekend, they have recently built a new stand and it looks magnificent. Only people with badges were able to make use of it and i asume it was mostly hired out as corporate. however i was speaking to someone who had been in the new stand, who had obviously been invited, he loved it and thoroughly enjoyed his day, however this man who is not a racegoer was unaware that racing had taken place previously on the fri nite, and was set to take place again on the sunday. surely the racecourse should have been doing their best to let this type of customer know about the next days racing and mabye even offer him discount on coming back the next day or to some other meeting!!

Forgot to mention re Longchamp on Arc day - as well as free buses
to and from Paris to Longchamp and 8 euro in you also gat a free top notch
race card - so good we keep them as suveniours each year
vive le france - we would never ever go to Galway “festival ” again
or Cheltenham for that matter - you could spend all day in the q for
the toilets and a drink - and forget about “food”

Barry

High admission prices is only part of the problem. Price cuts, as now offered by many courses for online purchase, will mainly affect people who are occasional punters. A bigger problem is the poor value offered for regular racegoers. Membership schemes are crucial here. Think of gym membership or membership of football clubs or even commuter tickets. One-off admission is of limited value in terms of building a core attendance; the real marketing ploy is to get people to sign-up on a regular basis. This encourages repeat business and provides a guaranteed income stream. To-date, memberships are only offered on a course-by-course basis or in Kildare, for all three courses. Why not offer a package whereby racegoers can attend 10, 15 or 20 race meetings of their choice? These could be grouped into a few categories, classics/grade 1s, festivals and regular meetings, or have a limit on any one course so that benefits are spread around.

Second, memberships should give additonal benefits. I’ve been a member in the three Kildare courses. Only the Curragh treats members anyway different to regular punters, offering a reserved parking area, providing a dedicated section of the stand and a bar and having special offers (eg two for one). The highlight of these benefits is the visit to local racing establishments followed by a day’s racing in August/Sept. I brought friends and family on this day and it is fantastic introduction to racing. We even got a winning tip from Eddie Harty! By contrast, Naas and Punchestown offer no additional benefits (both say they have members’ bars, but everyone can access these facilities.) During my membership year I had no communication from Naas and Punchestown, while the Curragh is in fairly regular correspondence by email. Also, no courses give members a free racecard.

Third, the age barrier for free attendance by young people is too low at 14 years. This excludes people aged 15 to 18 years. Why is that? This age group is a key target audience for the future. Also, it can provide an financial obstacle for adults with older children to attend. Recently, I bought my 15 year old son and two pals to Punchestown on their school half-day. I encountered hassle in getting them and then a security guy followed them around to see what they were up to. Definitely not what you expect from a day out. OK I accept you need an age limit for unaccompanied children, but not when with a adult.

Finally, the racecourses should do more to encourage women to attend the races. This must go beyond fashion competitions to providing better facilities for female patrons. Half-price packages should also be provided. You could also think of offering lower price membership for women, even on an inroductory basis.

Jim

as a regular enough racegoer myself and syndicate members have to agree with most of the comments on this blog food and drink prices far too high i go to the races to look at the horses and then decide what to bet i always make sure i have funds in my online accounts guaranteed prices and all that it really is a lot handier to make a phone call nowadays and you have more offers to choose from than the on course bookmakers offer

A lot of people feel the same way, about the cost of attending a race meeting in ireland, will anything change though? these comments should be emailed to all racecourses , maybe they might take notice then?

Apart from Arc Day, Longchamps is free entry and free race card. No bookies but plenty of kiddies entertainment. A big screen showed the Group 1 from the Curragh, and you could bet on any racemeeting in Europe the same day. Food was excellent and reasonable. A brass band tried to make up for the lack of the ring, but didn’t quite do it for me. But at Leopardstown a few Wednesdays ago, the first three races were EBF Maidens…big fields and no substantial form to go on, with debutants from the big hitters like O’Brien, Bolger etc likely to upset them. I was bored by the time the Saval Beg came on, the only decent race on the night. €15 in, €3 racecard, hot-dogs for €8. Didn’t even stay for the last race. Roy Keane got it right. The crowd is the product. Ever watch a European match behind closed doors? Marketing of racing is pathetic here. Very few young people interested.

Im a 16 year old lad and im just going to focus on the galway races admission fee’s.Whats with the age barrier to get in for €2 U-14?Surely it should be put up to U-18,i go to the 1st 5 days of the races every year and therefore have to pay over €100 before Ive even placed a bet on a horse.
Sometimes I even have to pay an adult fee to get in, as I am in secondary school I dont have a student card and when asked to produce one i explain to them im in secondary school and just because im 6” 1′ im told theres no way im a student.Its a Joke,even at ballinrobe a few weeks back before my 16th birthday where it was U-15’s in for free,i was turned away again for bein tall,the woman asked me for i.d. to prove im 15,what kind of i.d. does a 15 year old carry around with him?Ive no summer job,no money,I might have to give galway a miss for the 1st time since I was 6,but I might be better off betting on a few horses in the bookies,no admission fee’s,no ridiculous food prices.I’ll miss the craic in Galway,Hurdle day when there coming up the hill as the race comes to a close and the thousands of people roaring on there horse,ill miss it….but i just cant afford it.

Another thing to bear in mind regarding admission fees is the €68 million subsidy provided by the exchequer for the horse and greyhound racing industry. Therre is an argument that admission prices should be reduced to take account of this public subsidy. Furthermore, the €68 million subsidy amounts to a third of the total sports budget. All these sports have to set out policies for increasing public participation in sports, especially by disadvantaged groups.

So what is the racing industry doing to promote participation in racing, including participation by low-income groups? Judging from its pricing policy, very little it seems. In fact, given the elitist perception of the sport, it is even more important to have initiatives which reach out to low-income groups. Here’s an idea. Why can’t Leopardstown offer a special ticket package to the local SVP conference or local family resource centres? I know of a case where a SVP conference gave money to a couple to have a holiday at the Listowel Races one year. Why can’t racecourses initiate something like that? Sport for all or just for the rich??

Jim

Well done to the Curragh for taking the initiative and offering free admission for 2 for tote account holders on Saturday next. I would expect a bumper crowd to avail of this offer.

Attendance at the Galway Races 2009
Up or Down?

In light of the current economic recession and the dramatic fall in attendances at race meetings throughout Ireland and the UK, the big question among the horse racing fraternity in Ireland is ‘Will attendances be up or down at the Galway Festival in 2009?’.

Galway Races Summer Festival 2009
Admission Prices

Mon July 27th - €20
Tues July 28th - €25
Wed July 29th - €30
Thurs July 30th - €30
Fri July 31st - €25
Sat Aug 1st - €20
Sun Aug 2nd - €20

Factor in racecards at €3.00 per meeting, car parking, meals, snacks, drinks, refreshments, not to mention BETTING (if you can afford it).

Recession? What recession?
Don’t mention spiralling unemployment or plummeting house prices.
Don’t mention the blitzed construction industry or the stalled motor industry.
Don’t mention the collapse in the number of visitors from Britain, who are discouraged by the sterling-euro exchange rate.
Can the plain people of Ireland afford to go to Galway Races this year?

Ask RTE’s Paddy O’Gorman (’Queueing for a Living’) as he tours the children’s playgrounds of Ireland interviewing Ireland’s new poor.
Ask your local property developer or your neighbourhood architect.

How to beat the recession?
Shanks’s mare, a packed lunch and cold tea in a bottle.
Racing page from a giveaway newspaper that includes a free €5 bet.
Stowaway in a horsebox.

With a little ingenuity, you can ‘join the crowd at Galway’.

From thegalwayraces.blogspot.com

I’ve been to race meetings in Western France on a number of occasions.
The entrance price is €5.50 and you can buy a “galette saucisse” (sausage pancake) for €2.70 .At Craon where they have €50,000 races the entrance fee is the same as for the gaffs. There is no manic betting by the racegoers
and it is a most enjoyable experience.
Irish off course bookmakers bankroll a fair chunk of HRI’s spending.They should demand a full explanation of all HRI spending each year and put it on display in each betting shop.It is those betting shop punters who effectively
pay for much of the HRI spend (via the bookmakers) and yet they are not counted as “stakeholders” by the HRI !

A very interesting posting with a great many sensible replies.

As I see things, Irish Racing is in very grave trouble. Head up to Dublin’s only racetrack one of these fine Thursday evenings if you want to see for yourself. If you remove those people who are working there (involved in yards, bookies, staff etc) the attendance is pitiful.

Of course, people will point to the downturn as the reason but i think this problem has been around far longer. The problem is, there are too many people within this industry who are terrified at the prospect of what is happening to it to speak up, and there is a dearth of real ingenuity or any real capacity to address the problems that racing faces. Where are the young people at the upper echelons of this industry? How can state employees (all earning nice incomes, pensions, verious other cushy benefits) really be expected to see what everone else sees. They are the ultimate vested interest group and they won’t turn around Irish racing.

To get back to the original point, I urge just one Irish racecourse to offer free admission this summer (yes, i said free). If they do this, and spend some money marketing the fact and employ a clever PR strategy, they will be on the right road. However, to address things properly they also need to look at F&B costs. Having a drink in a bar at the races should be cheaper than having a pint in your local. Again, why are racecourses here at the behest of catering companies who serve up sh1t on a plate most of the time? Is there nobody else who can see that well prepared, inexpensive fresh food would be perfectly acceptable? In France, you can pay €7 for a large fresh baguette, filled for you with ham and salad, and a cold can of kronenberg. In Ireland I recently paid €10 for a burger that i took one bite of and threw away, and something that was passed off as potatoes. They quickly followed the burger. This area is just always overlooked. typical Irish attitude of ‘they’ll feckin ate it if they’re hungry’. It’s not good enough anymore. HRI should take heed of this.

So, in summation:

* Free admission (or at least no more than €5)
* Cheap Drinks, cheaper than the avg pub.
* Decent, easy to prepare, fresh food for under €10.

People in Ireland love racing and will go. It’s what happens when they arrive that has put them off.

I used to live in England and now live back here. I go racing alot as I did in England. I don’t understand how different tracks charge different prices e.g at Navan on a friday night a few weeks back it was 10 euro and this in my mind is acceptable. There was still a small crowd but its a NH track and this was a flat meeting. Last sunday in Gowran was 15 euro for a few average handicaps, maiden hurdle and a bumper. Who do they think they are as if you go with a family its 50 euro with racecard to get in the door. We need more people racing as its off putting going to a track whne its so dead you’d hardly know there was a race meeting going on. If the Curragh is 20 euros on a Classic day where are tracks like Gowran and Limercik going especially when the facilities are nothing to write home about. Everyone here feels the same. Why don’t HRI or the people that manage the tracks listen and stop this “rip-off ireland” culture!!

Without the bookie there would be no atmosphere at Irish Race meetings. I lived in Australia for a while and the one thing I missed was the on course bookie and to a lesser extent the Bookie Shop. Their TABs are good and the racing is well funded but the few bookies they have on course is pitiful. America is worse. I was at the Breeders Cup a few years back In Belmont and it was worst than a bad meeting in the middle of the winter in Ireland. No atmosphere at all and this was suppose to be the biggest race meeting in the World. It was terrible. The only positive from America and Australia is the low admission fee but while it guarantees a crowd it does not always guarantee a good atmosphere.

Always go to the May and July meetings in Killarney. Went as usual this year. 20 euro admission on the Sunday, growled a little but paid up for a reasonable NH card. 20 Euro on the Monday and Tuesday evenings for very middling cards. Voted with my feet and stayed away. Will have to re-evaluate going to Killarney for these meetings.
Other courses are going to have to wake up and realise that people do not have the same disposable income as they had a couple of years ago. The days of the young bucks, out to impress the ladies, by how much they could put on a horse are long gone.
Wake up and see how you can attract the family back to racing. I would suggest giving them a decent day out that wouldn’t cost the earth. 20-25 Euro admission for 2 adults plus up to four children under say 16 + 2 racecards. Caterers to offer decent food at reasonable prices. It doesn’t have to be gourmet food, something as simple as sausages/burger and chips for around 5-6 Euro a head, can of soft drink, 1.50 Euro and tea/coffee 1.50 euro. Supermarkets do it, large volume sales, small profit per unit. End result - large profit for supermarket. Exclusive shop, Small volume sales, large profit per unit. End result - small profit for exclusive shop or maybe a loss.
Racecourses need punters for atmosphere. A sparsely populated racecourse is the loneliest place in the world. Example: a wet midweek meeting in Punchestown in the middle of winter. I know, I’ve been there. Half a dozen hardy souls, hunched over, hands deep in the pockets trying to get some idea of how the horses look in the paddock and then hope to back the winner. They are the punters that should get some reward not be screwed for every last cent in their pockets for overpriced food and drink. That is just and example, Punchestown is not the worst offender when it comes to overpriced food and drink.
Racecourses - WAKE UP BEFORE YE LOSE ALL YOURS PATRONS. GIVE US VALUE FOR MONEY.

I have read all the 70 postings made on this blog for the past fortnight and,by and large,these postings are all saying the same thing namely that genuine racegoers are sick to death at being ripped off when they go racing by high admission prices and the quality ( or lack of it )of food and inflated prices of both food and drinks.

Metaphorically speaking,the very dogs in the street have been aware of these problems for many years and my question is how on earth do those at the head of the HRI fail to see what is blindingly obvious to all regular racegoers? Are they so completely out of touch that they think that there is no problem to address? Would it be totally unreasonable of me,as a regular paying racegoer,to request a comment from someone at the HRI via this excellent blog to inform us of their thoughts and plans for the future?

We are undoubtedly entering a period of massive dislocation for all facets of the Irish racing industry. Change will happen but only because we have a real problem and not because of foresight or endeavour. The racecourse model needs to change because it is sub-economic and more importantly it has all the hallmarks of a secular decline (not cyclical) – don’t be fooled in thinking the game will recover when the economy does – the simple reason is the real and ‘perceived’ value for money and attractiveness of the sport has diminished greatly for numerous reasons such as cost, quality, service etc. Fundamentally, customers now expect more for less – just walk into any supermarket for confirmation. The recession will have some long-term changes on consumer behaviour i.e. customers will take their current savvy habits with them into the next economic recovery (whenever it happens).
Ex the Curragh on Derby day and the big festivals like Galway one has to think that the profile of the average racegoer is an aging profile. With spending power for young people (18-35) starting to diminish rapidly and alternative avenues of entertainment growing, racing needs to ask itself - how does it intend to replace its stock of customers? This needs radical thinking and leadership.

Moving to a toll-free model certainly merits discussion, but will not work if on-course service levels, product quality and range of offerings continue to be sub-standard. Once you move to a toll-free model there is no going back therefore it needs to be thought through in totality. As a regular racegoer I have found my participation has started to diminish in recent years – aside from economic reasons, I ask myself is there a correlation between falling attendance and the growth of racing on television (ATR, Racing Channel etc)? While I continue to support the game, I have grave concerns that unless we increase racecourse footfall the sport is at risk of marginalisation which in turn feeds into decreasing levels of sponsorship and government support.

I don’t see why they cannot copy the american way. I went to Hollywood Park the weekend after this years Breeder’s Cup for an ordinary run-of-the-mill raceday. $3 in plus a free racecard and you were charged reasonable prices for food and drink. The idea of a free racecard is excellent because it only gives you the runners in the ten races and maybe a short piece on the feature stakes race, for the more serious punter you could buy a Racing Form (a very in depth form book similar to timeform) for $5. Their idea was to get them in and get them spending. It was free refills for all soft drinks because they know it only costs about 8c for a half litre of coke and for $2 you would need to have to refill 26 times to get them out of pocket.
The courses get €30k for putting on a meeting so surly it would be beneficial to get crowds in and interested in racing. If we don’t do something about it now then racing will be gone or the most minor sport around.

James my man if you cant enjoy racing at Belmont Park in NY you deserve everything that you get in Ireland. I wonder if the Breeders Cup was held at the Curragh how much do you think it would cost to get into the joint.
Belmont may have no bookies but they will take what ever amount of money you want to bet. Would the so call bookies in Ireland take a 50, 000 bet. Yes if you bet 50 k at Belmont the return would be small on most days. on Breeders Cup day it would not change the odds. Did you happen to notice that the stand holds bout 20,000 sitting with a perfect view of every yard of the track. Did you see the many thousands out side in the back yard where familys enjoying a day out. Maybe the money men feeling is missing. I can guarantee that the family feeling at say Belmont or Saratoga is not to be seen anywhere in Ireland the reason been the cost. The tracks here in the states create new fans with every family trip to the track. I think Ireland could learn a lesson from the way familys are allowed to be a family for a day out at the track. I guess it will never happen when people like you are so quick to complaine about good tracks that dont seemed to fit what you want. You certainly are in the minority when it comes even to the chat on this blog.

excellent article BRIAN O’CONNOR.
I wrote to one of the local papers in galway after last years festival warning that thev impending recession would undoubtedly affect the attendance 2009, i also made the point that the executives at the major courses were primarily concerned with the ”corporate set”. well lo and behold GALWAY have this week decided that the hospitally village is a no goer due to lack of bookings, so joe punter is priority again, or so i thought, i made a point at a HRI forum chaired by BRIAN GLEESON about 5 years ago in the raddison hotel in galway to the galway management that the admission was simply excessive, especially as rightly commented by an earlier contributor if your going as a couple its too expensive considering food a drink which are also excessively priced as you all know, and a few bets and i am a small punter, the simple fact is the type of people who tend to be on the committee’s / executives of the courses and H.R.I. are from the upper classes, wealthy business people, they are not in touch with reality, they in my opinion are in for a rude awakening, i have written again to our local papers this week as there is no indication of galway reducing the admission for the festival. i find this very surprising. the average racegoer needs more journalists like you BRIAN to put this common sense point across to the apparently ignorant people running racing in this country now, the good times are over, before long racing could be on it’s knee’s begging for custom, but that will be locking the stable door after the horse has bolted. BRIAN, I hope your article was read by BRIAN KAVANAGH and passed onto the big wigs.
thanks

I was just wondering where I could get an application form to become a Steward of the Turf Club,after what I witnessed today at The Curragh is seems that ‘the acting stewards’ were doing just that ‘acting’.
The race in question was the 5th race the 5 runner Curragh Cup with a first prize of 43k.
An incident happened about 2 furlongs out when J P Murtagh’s mount Yankee Doodle ‘blocked’ M J Kinane’s mount Alandi,kinane had to check and switch,in the process losing valuable ground,when Kinane got going again his mount finished 2nd beaten a neck by Profound Beauty with Yankee Doodle back in third.
The ‘acting stewards’ immediately called an enquiry which went on for quite a while,and the longer it went on the word on course was that Murtagh was in serious trouble.Now the fact that Yankee Doodle didn’t win the race meant that Alandi couldn’t be promoted which was fair enough as Profound Beauty was not caught up in the incident.
The result of the enquiry was no alteration which wasn’t surprising,but,some shrewd judges at tha track said Murtagh would get 5 days (as he got in England for a similar offence) but the ‘acting stewards’ gave him a 1 day suspension!!!! which he will probably appeal and get overturned.
Now I know Kinane gave his mount a shocking ride and a multiple champion jockey should not encounter traffic problems in such a small field,but it seems to me that Murtagh,O Brien and crew can do as they like ( remember last years Derby)?
This whole incident raises a few issues.

1- Why do the stewards bother having enquiries at all if they will not act?

2- Why don’t the Irish Stewards and The British Stewards work from the same manual?

3- The cute jockeys always watch what’s going on all around them on The Big Screens - can something be done about this to ensure jockeys ride out all finishes instead of glancing at the big screens?

I know that this submission has very little to do with the subject of this blog but I feel this is another matter that is badly wrong with Irish Racing

I agree with the comments regarding the cost of entry to a race meeting. It would be helpful if someone could explain what exactly our admittance fee is used for.

wouldnt 25 euro be plenty to get into the derby? 40 is a bit steep,

The €40 admission into the curragh for the derby is disgraceful. I could not justify paying this. The annoying thing about this is that the majority of people who attend this meeting probably wont attend another race meeting for the rest of the year and the regular racegoer cant afford it.

Originally from Dublin but living in Louisville, Kentucky I am lucky enough to be 20 mins from Churchill Downs and 1 hr from Keeneland. Both courses do bang up jobs and offer great value…CD costs $1 for TwinSpires club members (free membership signup)
But they don’t always get it right….last Friday Churchill had its first ever Night Racing Programme, they normally start their friday cards at 1pm, for this promotion they started at 6pm and brought in temporary lighting and promoted the hell out of it….friday normal attendance was around 5 to 6000, last Friday night they got 30,000
but
they increased the admission to $10 (twinspires members still got in for $1) and they underestimated the amount of punters that A. Wanted to bet, and B. Wanted to drink
All the noise on messageboards and in the local paper after the first meet was that people had to wait too long in lines for beer and for betting and it was unacceptable having to wait up to 45 mins for a beer and or a bet.
So what did CD do?
One week later for its second Friday night racing they sent out a press release admitting their mistake and guaranteeing that people wouldnt have to wait in line for too long, not only that, they slashed the price of a beer to $1 and Hotdogs to $1
Churchill Downs’ strategy to make up for being understaffed and understocked at the first “Downs After Dark” night racing event was to come back for Round 2 with cheap admission, cheap food and cheap beer — and lots of it.
Officials also promised to bolster service with twice the number of concessions stands and staff them with three times the number of workers that were on hand on the Friday before.
Not only that, but the HEAD of Churchill Downs Inc. and other track corporate staff were in beer tents down by the paddock SERVING patrons beer and apologizing for the gaffe last week!! Attendance for the second friday night racing? ..28,000
Regular Tracks in the States are still struggling to compete with the Casino Tracks, but fair play to Churchill Downs for listening to its punters and being able to act swiftly within the week to provide its customers with better service
I am headed home in a couple of weeks and planning to be at the Curragh for the Phoenix Stakes day…will be interested to see what the overall experience will be like.

well said JOHN B i attended the derby for years but stopped a few years ago, disillusioned with being ripped off to be crushed, we had PAUL HENSEY on rte on saturday with TRACEY PIGGOTT stressing the 40 eur. admission was great value and it was their way of doing something for the racegoer given the current economic climate - do me a favour PAUL HENSEY, We’re not all on your salary, and furthermore these guys are living in cloud cuckoo land, i gather there was a huge crowd at the derby yesterday, but i wonder how many of them had a serious knowledge of horse racing ? or indeed how many even saw a race ? ? ?
declan burke (galway)

Declan,

There was not a huge crowd there yesterday. It may have looked that way on TV but that’s because almost everyone was outside. I’m nearly 20 years attending the Derby and numbers were well down. Parking both sides was easy. No traffic delays approaching from any side. Straight to the counter for a beer, no queue. No delays getting out either after racing.
One northern punter in front of me tried to have 200 sterling on Fame and glory at 4/5 and one of irelands well known bookies(i believe he is the head of their association), would not lay it. “I’ll lay 100, he said. I don’t know if many of them saw a race but they sure as hell weren’t having a bet if the bookies couldn’t lay 200 quid.
€40 was an absolute disgrace for ordinary punters, especially when coupled with the rip off prices inside. No-one in their right mind would bring a family.

ED, thanks for the feedback, i think we’re all thinking along the lines that we want racing to thrive in this country but we want it done in such a way as the paying customer does not feel he’s been taken for a ride, your right when you say it’s not encouraging anyone to bring a family, in some ways i’m delighted to read what you said was your experience yesterday i.e. easy access to getting served etc and no traffic delays, ROBERT HALL and co on tv were contiiously relaying ”what a wonderful crowd and atmosphere ” blah blah blah, i was brought up a stones throw from ballybrit here in galway and more or less never miss a meeting but i feel the real racegoers are getting disillusioned and are now starting to vote with ther feet.

“During the summer, twenty euro will get you into headquarters with a number of little side-benefits thrown in. It’s forty euro for the Derby day but we are after all talking about the most prestigious date of the whole year.”

Sounds like profiteering to me!!!!!

Rip-off republic is alive and kicking in Ireland. Attendance down 15 per cent at the derby yesterday. 40 quid to get through the gate to stand in one of the worst grandstands at a classic holding course in Europe, if not the world.

How can you justify this? “oh we’ll charge you a low admission fee when we are not expecting many people but we’ll increase our prices by 100% when we expect a big crowd.

Disgraceful.

Drastic Times Call for Drastic Measures

Irish Derby 2009 - Official attendance 23,271
15 per cent down on Irish Derby 2008

Irish Derby 2009 - €1.6m bet with the bookies
Irish Derby 2008 - €2.1m bet with bookies

The Galway Race Committee must act decisively to avoid the same fate.
Drastic times call for drastic measures.
What do you think they should do?

In the Mullioned Snug last night, the following song titles were suggested by a trio of disillusioned tipplers:

‘Galway Races - The Thrill Is Gone’
‘Galway Races - Those Were The Days’
‘Galway Races - Yesterday, All My Troubles Seemed So Far Away’
‘Galway Races - The Carnival Is Over’
‘Galway Races - Save The Last Dance For Me’
‘Galway Races - A Nation Turns Its lonely Eyes to You’

Galway Races - A Beaten Docket?
I hope not.

Id say if its worth seeing then its worth paying for it…

the key point for the racegoer now is if it’s worth seeing - is it worth paying OVER THE ODDS to do so ? given the simple fact that everyone is feeling the pinch with their income levy etc, etc, with further cuts on the horizon i.e. childrens allowance etc people’s disposable income is shrinking, GALWAY have no plan to reduce admission, i can tell you if this stance does not change they will see a drastic drop in figures- mark my words.
declan burke
galway

Galway Races - Bookmakers (an understandably vested interest group)

As a regular patron of the Galway Races Summer Festival, I ask you to forget for a few moments the facile Galway Races’ mantras and the mass, media-driven, hypnosis for a few moments.

What exactly is the perennially undefined “Magic of the Galway Races”?
What added value does it provide for the financially embattled racegoer?
And why, in these recessionary times, should we be expected to pay so much to experience it?

Remember the accumulated costs of travel, accommodation, meals, socialising, etc. - away from the racecourse.

Add the costs of admission, racecards, car parking, refreshments, etc. - at the racecourse.

Don’t forget to add BETTING LOSSES.
Yes, LOSSES. For Galway is the bookmakers’ annual bonanza.

Name me the bookmaker who, off the record, will not grin mischievously when reminded of the following remarks:

* “Never in the field of human endeavour was so much given to so many by so few.”

* English Bookmaker: “There’s a mug born every minute.”
Scottish Bookmaker: “Thank God most of them live long lives.”
Irish Bookmaker “Thank God there’s enough of them to fill the betting ring in Galway every year.”

This post is not directed against bookmakers. I relish the cut-and-trust of the betting ring and love listening to the wit and wisdom, repartee and anecdotes of individual layers who are among the most honest and respected people in racing.

Racecourses and the racing game would be much less colourful and exciting without bookmakers. Do they contribute enough financially? Now, that’s a controversial issue in itself.

May I remind you of the following extract from ‘The Galway Races’ article at
galwayraces.blogspot.com

“Bookmakers look forward to Galway to boost their fluctuating funds. A bumper week at this cornucopian venue invariably puts them ‘in front’ for the year. Inexperienced holiday punters contribute ceremonially to the coffers through their artless support of pin-selected horses and those with agreeable names.

On the other hand, informed gamblers and ’strokers’ with mysteriously inexhaustible funds can cause serious damage at the competitive odds generally available at Galway.

When heavily-supported horses oblige in consecutive races, the resultant queues of winning punters are enough to strike panic into the heart of the most phlegmatic turf accountant.

The bookmaker’s recurring nightmare must surely be a record losing day at Galway with payout queues stretching telescopically into the famous sunset, and his assistants whispering nervously: ‘We aren’t going to have enough readies to pay this lot.’

Miraculously, the trusty betting-bag proves equal to the most exacting demands and yields funds far in excess of its squat dimensions. Talk about loaves and fishes … or rabbits from a hat! Bookmakers regularly perform biblical and theatrical feats at the Galway Races.”

Typo correction to quotation above:

“Never in the field of human endeavour was so much given by so many to so few.”

You can’t beat the bookies.

A neighbour went to the Curragh last Sunday with his wife and adult daughter but baulked at the €40 a head entrance fee. He drove out, sent his wife and daughter into the Kildare shopping outlet and watched the GAA on the television with a nice pint ( served in a “glass” glass).
What annoyed him most was that he knew that a huge proportion of those who were inside the gates got in for free. It seems that half the attendance at the big meetings are there on “complimentaries” - freebies which never filter down to regular racegoers

the official launch of GALWAY RACES took place yesterday at the G-HOTEL in GALWAY yesterday afternoon, listening to the local news on the way home from work, racecourse manager JOHN MOLONEY spoke about the fact that they decided to abandon the corporate village as there were simply not enough bookings on foot of the current economic situation, however he said they still expected attendances would still keep up to around the usual figures, he also referred to the fact that other festivals in the city were still doing well, specifically he referred to the huge success and attendances at the volvo ocean race a few weeks ago, i wonder did he forget this event was free of charge and was a one-off. he said they decided they were keeping admission charges at the same level as last year due to the recession (this is the good bit) ”making it affordable for everybody”.
i have no doubt the galway festival will draw the crowds as ever, but i guarantee the all round figures will be well down on last year, and failing to reduce admission is a surprising decision which will backfire. declan burke

Only Fools and Horses Pay In

Are there any official records (who would willingly release them?) or even fairly reliable anecdotal evidence of the authentic attendance figures at Irish race meetings - i.e. the numbers of people who “pay the official admission prices”.

On my way from the car park to the turnstiles at this year’s Punchestown Festival, I was accosted at least four times by touts offering “tickets”. Crowds of people had congregated outside the entrance gates, speaking animatedly into mobile phones, exchanging tickets, “waiting for” Joe, Paddy, Sean, Jimmy, Ciaran, etc. to arrive with “the tickets”.

From the gist of the conversations I overheard, most of them felt that “paying in” was the last resort, an option reserved for fools and the uninitiated.

I certainly hadn’t to queue to pay the full price and suspected that the man who accepted my money at the turnstiles was slightly surprised to be dealing with a rare specimen, i.e an unconditional paying customer.

The same scenario is re-enacted every year at Galway, with lines of people collecting “tickets” at “the wee window” and scrums of others dealing out decks of them at the gates.

Yes, there will be ‘record’ crowds at the Galway Hyperbole this year, but how many of them will be paying in?

Im 18 years old and as a struggling student who enjoys racing its becoming extremely expensive and harder to attend and enjoy a days racing. 25e for a student on derby day is far too steep, as along with travel, having food, making a few bets and having a pint it will cost at least 100e….. Sure a student with a part time job would have to save for a few weeks to consider attending a raceday as expensive as this. In fairness though there are tracks who are making an effort to pull in crowds by offering decent value for a days racing. I see that Fairyhouse are racing on the 19th of this month and are charging 5e entry fee. Its up to other tracks to follow suit and use some initiative to offer better value to the normal racegoer…!

What escaped a lot of people about Derby day was that while the Marketing troops were out in force to announce a 20% reduction from €50 to €40, what they failed to mention was that for well over half the potential attendance it was in fact a 40% increase. Due to the fact that the reserved enclosure is no more the people who would normally have paid €25 to get into the main ring (The man with his wife and daughter referred to above) now had to face up to €40.

Irish Racing will get some wake up call at Galway I assure you

The Curragh have vouchers for admittance to any of the following dates for just €5 per person
Sunday 11th July,Sunday 26th July,Sunday 16th August Sunday 13th Sept and Sunday 11th Oct

For details ring 045-441205.

This may help hard pressed “ecomonicially challanged” punters

40 euro into The Curragh last Sunday was simply daft . It was my first Derby Day visit and certainly the last unless prices come done . In my case between admission for 2 , petrol and food over 100 euro before I even had a bet . The racing powers that be really need to look at this problem . Having said that its not only racing -35 euro into Croke Park tomorrow .

I live in galway and have been a regular at the festival for over 25 years and the place is a complete rip off and now that it has gone to 7 days its worse than ever.The price to get in is a minimum of 20 euros going as high as 30 euros for plate and hurdle day that means if a couple went for the 7 days and got racecards it would cost the 375 euros just to get in the gate tell me thats not a rip off,as for food and drink that just as bad and people should remember that the highest rated race is a listed race on the flat and a class b handicap not exactly a punters paradise.

hi
agree totally with the guy about limerick my uncle is wheelchair bound his daughter was pushing him she asked for half price entry no way jose not a chance miserable bastards go to mallow £3 euros for a cup of tea £5.40 for a beer at fairyhouse look the racegoers are the mugs who are keeping the likes of mullins ,magniers the walshs etc in lap of luxury irish racing needs to cop on and look after the racegoers especially in these tough times which racecourse manager will have the balls to lead the way

I was raised going horse racing but I’ve switched to the dogs now.

It’s only a tenner in, that includes a card, the facilities are good in nearly all the tracks now. The food in the upstairs restaurant is very decent and reasonably priced, while the lower rung food is grand for the price too.

I’m sick of being mugged at horse racing meetings, with appalling food and no atmosphere most of the time.

Midweek meetings should be free in, they’d save money as they wouldn’t have to pay the stiles men. I believe there was a meeting in Gowran Park last year where 65 people paid in! Galway are the arch profiteers, never give the punter a break, anyway it became a vulgar festival over the last few years. It was much better about 10 years ago anyway before the event junkies and non-racing people hijacked it. The FF tent was a metaphor for what it has become.

Roscommon shows them how.
Having read all the doom and gloom recently about falling attendances and overpriced facilities it was refreshing to attend Roscommon races, on Monday 6th of July, to see a provincial track put on a wonderful evening’s entertainment for a realistic outlay. Admission €13, cup of tea €1.50, food and drink prices reasonable. (Killarney take note)
The racing was top class. One listed race which attracted an English entry. Competition for Best Dressed Lady - the style was something else, as good as the Curragh on Derby Day. Tote taking’s up almost €50,000 on the corresponding meeting last year. It’s not rocket science to get the crowds going racing again. Just cut out the greed factor.

Roscommon Sense

Now’s the time for Galway to take the Roscommon route.

When you’ve been leading the way for years and suddenly discover
that your dutiful followers have branched off in another direction,
surely it it makes sense to stop and consult the road signs or tune
in to an up-to-date report from AA Roadwatch.

There may be trouble ahead!

Afternoon receiving an information pack from the HRI a couple of months ago and a covering letter that welcomed any comments I forwarded in the following email;

A chara,

I am emailing you with regard to your change in entrance fees at
various courses in the current economic climate. For instance the
policy of making Derby day a one enclosure event has lead to a 60%
increase in the cost of entrance from the standard enclosure. The fact
that it’s been advertised as a reduction is erroneous information as it
is only a reduction for the people who normally purchase a reserved
enclosure ticket. I think this is wrong of racecourses as this is
making things even more expensive for the ordinary punter who is the
life blood of the industry. The greater the footfall the better
revenues generated from food and drink purchases. It also helps
generate a better atmosphere and long term will encourage younger race
goers to support our sport.

Having raced internationally over the years there is no comparison
with the cost of entrance fees, Breeders Cup in Belmont Park $10, Arc
day in Longchamp E6 with a free racecard. Acknowledging that these
courses are subsidised by tote monopolies the difference with our derby
is in the 100’s %.

In light of the current difficulties facing many people and with 12%
of the workforce now unemployed I think the HRI should be a lot more
proactive in attracting people to the races. Reducing the cost of the
reserved enclosure ticket by 20% and increasing the normal enclosure
ticket by 60% is certainly not the answer. There should be discounts
available at entrance for the unemployed similar to Students and OAP’s.
Having discounts on the web is not the answer as this limits impulse
race goers and discourages race goers with no access to the internet.

A day at the races is still perceived as an expensive pastime and more
proactive measures need to be taken in attracting the ordinary punter
to ensure the short term survival and also the long term prosperity of
our great sport.

Your comments are most welcome.

Yours sincerely,

Derek Dunne

A concerned race goer.

To date I have received no response, looks like there sitting on there hands!

€5 into Fairyhouse next sunday, a step in the right direction. Get the punters in and let’s get the buzz back in the game. The punters will come back if racecourses make the effort.

2 succeeding Sundays
July 19 - Arlington Park, Chicago. Fast punctual train from city centre (45 mins ). Combined cost of fare and entry to track: $10 (7 euro). No item of food or drink more expensive than on main st.
July 26: The Curragh. 90 minutes before racing, a group of 15 UK tourists stand in Busaras, having been told there’d be a bus leaving for the Curragh ‘2 hours before the first race’. No information on notice boards. ‘Don’t worry, lads’, chuckles Irish ‘regular’, ‘the bus driver’ll be getting up soon!’ Combined cost of fare and admission: 30 euro ( 42 dollars ). Empty stands at the home of the 10 euro beef roll.

Tralee is a summer track and those fixtures can be run anywhere as you can race on summer ground much more often as you’re only putting a print in it, not poaching it. If you think, six NH tracks is enough to service the industry during the winter then I think you’re mistaken. Even leaving aside the obvious impossiblility of this with regard to ground, you are going to be abandoning whole swathes of the country and the racing public in those areas.You have six NH tracks, lets say Punchestown, Fairyhouse, Thurles, Limerick, Cork and Galway. You’ll have no track at all in the southeast or north. It would be like closing down the game. Putting a couple of hundred fixtures into these six tracks would not be feasible. It looks nice and neat to consolidate but it’s not possible.

Roscommon shows them how.
Having read all the doom and gloom recently about falling attendances and overpriced facilities it was refreshing to attend Roscommon races, on Monday 6
h of July, to see a provincial track put on a wonderful evening’s entertainment for a realistic outlay. Admission €13, cup of tea €1.50, food and drink prices reasonable. (Killarney take note)

Steve Noel Sr.

Your topic High Admission Prices was interesting when I found it on Saturday searching for fishing boat plans. Good Reading! Steve Noel Sr.