Crowds can return to the racetrack if we deal with the costs and touts

I have just returned from Paris, a trip which I am delighted to say included attending some Olympic events. As with most major sporting contests, and many race meetings, this required me to purchase tickets well ahead of time, and sadly, for various reasons, we were unable to use all of them. 

The system to sell them back was straightforward and ensured there were no unauthorised sellers, such as touts. A simple charge of five per cent was applied for me to relist at the original price. 

When we were at each event, the cost of food and drink were all reasonable – naturally more than one pays in a supermarket, but reasonable on anyone’s scale.

Now thoughts turn to racing, in particular my home tracks at Newmarket. 

As recently as July 31 Newmarket put out a message on social media urging racegoers to “avoid unauthorised sellers”. Although the course is trialling a new system for ticket exchange, it appears to tolerate (or at least seems to do nothing to deter) ticket touts. 

These ‘gentlemen’ bother and harass all racegoers as they approach the course, and of course also sell tickets at vastly inflated prices. 

Why, might you wonder, are they tolerated? I would hypothesise it suits the tracks to be full, naturally enough. When you can sell a glass of white wine for £9.60 a glass, and a distinctly average baguette for more than £10, well, I shall leave the reader to do the math. Racing suffers, as others are, from the cost of living crisis.

Attending one of the (popular) Newmarket Nights will set the racegoer back a princely £47.04 for Grandstand and Paddock, or a truly kingly £58.24 for the Premier enclosure. 

The racecourses wonder why attendances are down, and there are no doubt a number of reasons, but the approach to ticket prices, food and drink does, I believe, lay close to the surface of the problem.

Take out the touts, bring the prices of attendance and food and drink back into the real world and attendees will return, they will spend money on affordable food and drink, and they are, let’s face it, more likely then to come back.

Of course all of the above assumes there will be racing in Britain ten years from now. Prize-money (no owners, no racing – I have been an owner, via partnerships and solely, for more than 20 years), numbers of meetings, quality of meetings, etc. etc. are other big issues that desperately need addressing. Having a desirable sporting event for folk to attend … priceless.
Simon Gibson
Park Lodge Racing

Fiddling as Rome burns

Following Tom Kerr’s excellent column (August 14), I must agree with  all of the points that were raised regarding the lack of progress following the 2022 joint statement issued by horseracing’s hierarchy. 

Several journalists in the racing media along with ordinary punters like me have been having their valid opinions generally ignored by racing’s hierachy, much to our frustration and at times anger. 

The newly released fixture list does nothing to address the fact there is too much racing in Britain. We are still diluting a situation that has already been weakened over many years to the real detriment of the sport in both codes. 

The salvation that the Premier racing format was supposed to achieve has not yet materialised despite the valiant efforts of so many, especially ITV, to make it work for everyone who loves the game. 

The only positive initiative for me has been the Racing League, which has developed every season and is now unmissable free-to-air TV coverage.  

The competition’s excellent prize-money has attracted some top owners and trainers, and to have seven races that are framed to be so competitive and have at least three places in every event is punting heaven for so many on course and watching ITV’s brilliant coverage.  

The serious and radical changes that are so desperately needed, however, have not seemingly been addressed and the 2025 fixture list is proof of that. 

Like Nero fiddling as Rome burns, we now have to wait to see who the BHA will eventually recruit at the top to actually bring in those significant and radical changes that everyone desires and needs.
John Hall
Birmingham

Chin up and enjoy

Entirely against the run of play, I got an all-clear earlier this week on a pretty serious health condition and in the aftermath have hatched a plan. Second bite at the racing and life cherry so to speak.

I’ll cooperate with two affordability checks with two firms and go back punting if they let me.

I’ll go to two midweek race meetings a week, plus Ascot in September, Newbury for the big autumn meeting, (yes, I know it’s no longer the Hennessy), and I’ll book a box at ­Cheltenham for my 70th birthday in December.

I’ll book tickets for the festival in March, cheerfully cough up 15 quid for a burger and chips, and pay whatever the price of a pint of Guinness is.

I’ll ignore stake restrictions, just put on what I can, keep my chin up, and enjoy horseracing in the same way I did when I started 50 years ago.

Okay, I might be a bit over-euphoric about getting good news, but why not?

Here’s to the next 20 years of my favourite sport – bring it on.
Mike Bell
Ashford, Kent

Still the place for big bets

In response to John McDonald’s letter (August 14), I would like to say I am usually betting to smaller profit margins than ever before, taking some huge bets without restriction and running my own very opinionated books. 

One of my colleagues is often “bigger than the machine” and you can get on. Racecourse punters have never had it so good.

With one rare exception, racecourse place markets are deliberately always ‘standard terms’ so that the punter knows where they stand on that point, and again, the price on my board is always available each-way without restriction.

As most punters have difficulty getting on elsewhere, the racecourse is still the place for the bigger players and I look forward to accommodating Mr McDonald somewhere soon.
Matt Thompson
On-course bookmaker

Arc for Economics

Maybe I was a little exasperated in my letter (May 30) after Economics had won the Dante by six lengths only to then be omitted from the Derby. 

Following Thursday’s fantastic success in France, maybe William Haggas was right all along. He knows best, and you can talk about all the mile-and-a-quarter races you want, but surely the Arc is now on the agenda? Economics will stay alright, and the ground won’t matter. 

It’s a class thing – let’s go for it.
Alan Robinson
Lytham St Annes, Lancashire

A bit more racing chat?

There is a lot of talk and rightly so how interest in racing can be increased. During ITV’s coverage of the Racing League (August 15), much of an interview with Mick Quinn was taken up with the prospects for the new football season. 

ITV presenter Ed Chamberlin cannot let any opportunity go by without a reference to soccer. Perhaps the presenters on ITV’s football shows could be persuaded to make ­references to racing on a regular basis.
John Castley
Langtoft, Peterborough

So proud of our Heidi

Really enjoyed James Stevens’ column (August 13) about all the exciting Welsh talent in our sport, but he missed one out!

Heidi Palin was born and bred in ­Flintshire, North Wales into many generations of wonderful horse owners and breeders with aunts and her father competing for Wales in the Olympics.

Now Palin’s taking the sport by storm and doing so well with the Skelton family.

She’s my godfather’s granddaughter and we are all so extremely proud of her career so far and really looking forward to the new jumps season. As Stevens said, bring it on!
Yvonne McCorry
North Wales

Howard Wright: “charming, well-informed, amusing and totally honest”Credit: Edward Whitaker

Howard was one of the sport’s press-room giants

I was very sorry to read about the death of Howard Wright.

Howard was one of the best people ever to have been involved in horseracing.

Like fellow great racing journalist Geoffrey Hamlyn but 20 years younger, he was charming, very well-informed, amusing and totally honest. Giants not of ‘the pig skin’ but the press room.
He will be greatly missed.
Capt Sir Rupert Mackeson, Bart
Weston-super-Mare, Somerset

These letters are exclusive to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Read more Members' Club content here

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