Leopardstown has ‘massive job’ in attracting crowds after Irish Champions Weekend Figures The incoming Leopardstown Racecourse CEO has a “massive job” to increase crowds for the summer meetings, according to Johnny Ward. Leopardstown drew in a crowd of 11,354 for Irish Champion Stakes day, a 12% increase on last year’s figure but down from 18,500 that attended each day of the Dublin Racing Festival. At the Curragh on Sunday, there was a 5% drop in attendance to 8,361 with the bad weather playing a major part. Tim Husbands stepped down as the CEO of Leopardstown Racecourse in April and his permanent replacement is yet to be appointed. Speaking on irishracing.com’s Irish Angle show this week, Johnny Ward and the rest of the panel admitted it is hard to attract big numbers to Flat racing in Ireland. Irish Champions Weekend Crowd At Par “I don't really like giving out about crowds when I'm not there myself,” Ward explained. “In Leopardstown the crowd wasn't bad. To be fair to the Curragh, the [weather] forecast was dreadful. It wasn't a nice day to go out and the crowds were, I suppose, more or less what you'd expect. “Leopardstown will have a new CEO and he or she has a massive job to get crowds back for the summer meetings. “These aren't crowds to be getting excited about but I suppose they're more or less in line with what we would have expected.” Jumps Racing Appeals To The Masses irishracing.com editor Vincent Finegan questioned why Jumps meetings attract more spectators, especially with the quality of Flat racing in Ireland. He said: “We get fantastic crowds for the Jump racing here and just, for some reason, Irish people don't seem to do the same for the Flat. “It's very odd because Irish Champions Sakes day in Leopardstown went to 150 different countries with the broadcast and they'd all be huge fans of the Flat. “Then you look at the UK as well where jump racing is obviously massive. They're the two big countries for it, Ireland and the UK but yet they get massive crowds for their Flat racing as well. “Even Doncaster on Saturday for the St. Leger — 27,000 people turned up there which is more than we had for both days combined for the Irish Champions Festival.” What More Can Leopardstown Do? Emma Nagle claimed that tracks cannot do much more marketing than they already do if punters are not attracted by premier racing. She explained: “The tracks in fairness seem to be putting in a fair bit of effort into marketing it. “The Irish Champions Festival, in particular, gets plenty of marketing and they've tried plenty of different routes to market it to all kinds of audiences. “You look at Irish Flat racing and it's as good as you get anywhere in the world. “If the racing isn't attracting people, I suppose there isn't a whole pile more [that can be done]. “It's probably just a cultural thing in Ireland. People seem to have more of an affinity to the jumps racing and is there a whole pile you can change about that? I'm not sure." Should Ireland Follow The UK Route? Emma Nagle also explained that crowds are attracted by off-track entertainment in the UK and that is not necessarily something big Irish meetings should do. “I was surprised to see the crowds that they got at the Leger meeting [at Doncaster]. Near enough to 30,000 going to watch - that was interesting,” she added. “Sometimes you feel with those big Flat meetings in the UK they're being marketed more as a kind of a party day as well. They'll have big bands and DJs afterwards and they're attracting a party crowd. “When you go to Leopardstown on Champions Day there'll be plenty of people there for the social occasion but it's a great racing crowd as well, it’s not just people up there for a big session. It's obviously a good part of it, to go up there and have a bit of craic with your friends and stuff, but it's a racing crowd. “I found the last couple of times I went to the Dublin Racing Festival, it was almost too busy. The facilities weren't totally able to handle the crowds of 18,000 - 19,000. “It just felt like a lovely crowd on Saturday in Leopardstown, to be honest. You could go up and get a drink, you could go to the bathroom, get a bit of food, whatever you want to do. Get around the racecourse, put on a bet, go to the ring, no bother. “I thought it was probably the optimal number to have in Leopardstown. Look, I know that they'll want to get more than that in the gate for their own sake and to try and build the sport. “I was there and I couldn't complain about it. “I know the Curragh figures weren't too encouraging, but I was chatting to a few people there. The weather was miserable and it kind of put me off going as well to be honest. I know it's probably a bit soft to say, but the wind and the rain was blowing down. “People were saying inside the stand in the Curragh there was a good atmosphere as well. “I won't be totally negative about it. It’s as you’d expect now for these big Flat meetings.” Watch The Irish Angle In Full Or Listen On Spotify
