'Why shun the old guard?' - tracks accused of alienating older racegoers

Racing has been warned it needs to do more to attract and keep the older generation of racegoer to counter falling attendances.

Phil Evans, chairman of the North and Midlands Racing Club, believes merging enclosures and withdrawing – or hiding – many of the concessions that pensioners enjoyed before the pandemic has contributed to the well-publicised decline in attendances.

"Why shun the old guard?" the retired bank worker asked in the club's latest newsletter. "Courses do not seem to value these customers like they used to."

Sale-based Evans, 69, a member at Cartmel and a regular racegoer at Haydock and Bangor, is not surprised attendances are falling, particularly in midweek when the retired could be a prime audience.

He told the Racing Post: "They should do more to encourage people of our generation to turn up, and I don’t understand why they don't offer something like a midweek season ticket for pensioners.

"The merging of enclosures has also seen the price of a bog-standard midweek fixture at Haydock go up since Covid. Older people have less money after retirement and it puts them off."

Evans believes courses have missed a trick by not targeting the older generation, adding: "They don’t even mention concessions if you look on the websites of most Jockey Club racecourses. There is a race pass for 18 to 24-year-olds, but nothing about seniors any more.

"And when you do find a course offering concessions you can’t pre-book them on their website, while some concessions are not what they seem to be. At Uttoxeter you can only pay on the gate, and the concession meant you got the same price as if you’d pre-booked a standard ticket.

"If you look at their websites, they're all geared up to attracting younger people. That's fine, I'm not saying younger people shouldn’t get a discount, but the discounts we used to get seem to be disappearing. It seems crazy, especially in midweek. They’d rather have a thousand people wandering around a big racecourse than offer discounts to attract seniors in."

Hexham: good value for pensionersCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Evans' article provoked a reaction from the club membership, and he added: "Others have been in touch, and my experience is far from unique, but they have also pointed out places that are still good value for pensioners, like Hexham.

"And we have a trip planned to York next month, and I notice pensioners have the option to go into the centre of the course for £5. The tracks on the west side [of England] probably milk their prices because there isn't a lot of competition, whereas in Yorkshire there are a big number of courses and they seem to be more clued up."

Evans has also been frustrated by a lack of response when he has contacted tracks to try to raise his concerns.

He said: "In the past I've aired a lot of these things with courses and have had pretty good relationships with many racecourse managers. I always try to say something constructive, but by and large nowadays they don't seem to have time for people's views."

Pontefract is among the Yorkshire courses determined to appeal to pensioners, and chief operating officer Richard Hammill said: "We held an OAP free day in April [with free admission in the Grandstand and Paddock for anyone over 60]. We also offer an OAP rate into every enclosure – starting at £4 in the Picnic Enclosure, which can be booked in advance by card, or on the day by card or cash.

"In the current climate, we need to be welcoming racegoers of all ages at every meeting and allow them to book in advance or pay on the day, by cash or card. We certainly do not want to be limiting any of our options."

In May, some racecourses came under fire from racegoers for operating as cashless venues, with the exception of payments to on-course bookmakers. Major independents Goodwood and Newbury were among those to defend the policy taken up by an increasing number of tracks, with Arena Racing Company and the Jockey Club also operating their courses as cashless.

More to read:

Attracting young people is key in fresh campaign to push up attendances

Bookies told low crowd estimate reason for closed areas at Doncaster on Saturday

'This is worse than normal' - bookmakers 'bored' by low York attendance

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