Student Racedays: love or loathe them, but you can’t ignore them. The latest is due at Leopardstown tonight with about 7,000 youngsters expected to pony up to go on the rip. No doubt regulars are appalled at the prospect, are maybe even prepared to stay away in protest: which means the midweek paying crowd is likely to end up dropping by say, a hundred? (more…)

National Hunt fans tend to look up their financial noses at the flat when it comes to money, and how the winter sport is resolutely for the ‘small man,’ but it will be hard to argue that at Cheltenham 2013 when the vast majority of big Irish hopes will be in such a tiny minority of hands. (more…)

Official policy might be to plan and budget for increased attendances at Ireland’s racecourses but the on-the-ground trend appears to be remorselessly pointing towards a future where most fixtures will be viewed as little more than television fodder. (more…)

It will be fascinating if Camelot is given a green light to run in Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe but not fascinating enough to shake the conviction that Nathaniel increasingly looks the one with the best credentials for success in Europe’s most prestigious race. (more…)

The old gag about women demanding equality with men being short of ambition came to mind during Listowel’s Ladies Day when the fairer sex proved yet again that what they say really does go. (more…)

Any barman worth his salt will be able to tell a racecourse how to draw a crowd and as an ex-member of that esteemed profession here’s the simple tip: If you get the gals – you get the guys. (more…)

Learning from mistakes may not be compulsory but after yet another cock-up revolving around the determination of Irish racecourses to artificially water tracks, maybe it would be a good idea to remind everyone that Ireland’s climate is not the same as Chad’s. (more…)

While it may be true that no one has any value in what they get for nothing, there is no doubt at all that people vote with their feet when it comes to paying too much. So it would be really interesting to see what the connection is between tumbling attendances and the cost of getting through the turnstiles at our racecourses. (more…)

A lot of paint was spattered on the Curragh for the Guineas festival weekend but even as it shimmered in a rare blast of Sunday sunshine it was hard to escape the conclusion that a wonderful opportunity was lost to tear it all down. (more…)