Racecourse Entrance Prices Ludicrous ???

[Aidymac]

So, in Longchamp at the weekend, in Paris, which is a very expensive city in it's own right, charge an entrance fee of €8, which is around £7. It is only a whisker away from the Eiffel Tower, and last weekend held the world's most valuable race among loads of other top class races. There are no betting shops on track, although you can get a bet on at a PMU counter. In England, the likes of the big Ascot, Aintree and Cheltenham meetings, i see tickets range from around £55 upwards just to get in the gate. Here in Ireland for one of our biggest festivals, the Galway festival, i remember paying £20, around £15 for entry, which is around a fair price in my opinion. I know Cheltenham and Ascot etc still sell out, but i cannot see the justification in the price, especially because if you have a bad day on the nags, it turns into a hell of a bad day. I think if they want to get more young people into racing, they need to attract the general public to smaller meetings with cheap admission, get them into racing, and they need to drop the prices for the big Cheltenhams, and give a normal young lad the chance to go there for the week, instead of the usual rich crowd that have no interest in racing and just go for a piss up.

[robertob]

Re: Racecourse Entrance Prices Ludicrous ??? Spot on Aidy. Ticket prices are way to high to attract new people to racing I suppose. I remember when over in London I was last winter and made it to Lingfield Park for a random All-Weather meeting. Entrance fee: £16! Personally I don't really care because I'm a racing fan but if I would be just interested to get a first glimpse of the sport I would find that sort of fee pretty deterring. I found out on many occasions now that people are reluctant to join me for a day at the Curragh or Leopardstown if they are told it cost them 15€ to get in. And I understand their point completely. It's €15 just to make it through the door but then you didn't have a drink, something to eat and never mind a bet yet. Otherwise I can understand if racecourses demand higher entrance fees for the top racedays like the Classics or Champions day. Personally I find the £29 for the Grandstand enclosure at Ascot for Champions day even pretty fair. That's a special day and it's okay if you have to pay more as you normally would have to do. Though I know there are other tracks who really have horrendous ticket prices. For example I was interested last month to make a Chester/Doncaster double (couldn't make it thanks to work commitments eventually) and was just stunned by the entrance prices at Chester racecourse for a Friday meeting. If you wanted to get a ticket that entitles you to get at least a half-decent view on the action you had to pay allot - and it wasn't a special day, no Group race or something on the card. So I think the balance isn't right. For random mid-week racing you shouldn't pay more than €10 I feel. For top class action I'd be always happy to pay a bit more though.