Randwick The Ghost Town - #1 Horse Racing Forum in Australia for Race-Horse News

Arsenal

VIP Club
Group 1
user 194

Offline
Posts: 6063

Original Post 2009-Aug-06, 06:46 AM

The ghost town of Randwick

By Brent Zerafa From: The Daily Telegraph August 06, 2009 12:00AM

Quiet day at the track...Jim Cassidy (black/white checked cap) rides El Arza to victory in the first at Randwick in front of near-empty stands. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: The Daily Telegraph
WELCOME to Sydney midweek racing, where headquarters for the sport of kings looks more like a ghost town.

On a sunny winter's day, only the diehards turned up at Royal Randwick yesterday. Seven races were run and won in front of a crowd of 981.

AJC chief executive Darren Pearce said his club had thrown open the gates in a bid to bring back the crowds.

It's free entry to everyone, even to the exclusive members' enclosure.

Large empty grandstands dwarfed the straight yesterday. The vast lawn areas were lifeless. There were no marquees, barely a champagne bottle popped and the city party crowd was certainly nowhere to be seen.

Just a sprinkling of people hovered in the betting ring.

But despite the lifeless nature of midweek racing, administrators say betting turnover is healthy and that it can withstand small crowds at racetracks.

Advances in technology may have sucked the life out of metropolitan midweek meetings, but the white elephant is still a vital cog in the sport - pulling in more than $4 million every Wednesday.

Racing NSW boss Peter V'landys said while it was true punters were not turning up at the midweek races, they were still betting big at TAB outlets across the nation or via the internet or phone.

"Midweek racing remains very important to the racing industry," V'landys said.

"Seventy per cent of our funding is derived from wagering: whether it is on-course or off-course it doesn't matter. We also have to maintain opportunities for participants to earn an income.

"It would be lovely to have bigger crowds, but at the end of the day as long as the turnover is there, then that is what matters for the industry."

Some of us have a job to go to,not "every day is a holiday" as the song goes shy


	Logged

OldLarsy

Group 1
user 177

Offline
Posts: 18695

2009-Aug-06, 06:51 AM

Arsenal writes ... 2009-Aug-06, 06:46 AM

By Brent Zerafa From: The Daily Telegraph August 06, 2009 12:00AM

Quiet day at the track...Jim Cassidy (black/white checked cap) rides El Arza to victory in the first at Randwick in front of near-empty stands.

I doubt Brent Zerafa was there either, as Lady Beckworth won the 1st Undecided

El Arza ran 7th ridden by Tim Clark lol

Arsenal writes ... 2009-Aug-06, 06:46 AM

AJC chief executive Darren Pearce said his club had thrown open the gates in a bid to bring back the crowds.

It's free entry to everyone, even to the exclusive members' enclosure.

And why didn't they think of this 10+ years ago


« Last Edit: 2009-Aug-06, 06:57 AM by OldLarsy »	Logged

gratlog

Group 1
user 5

Offline
Posts: 12700

2009-Aug-06, 07:07 AM

I don't agree with completely free entry. Maybe let some charity man the gate for a charge of $5.Even a gold coin.

With free entry you will get anyone wandering in and they won't even have a bet or buy anything.

Last time we went to Doomben it cost $3. Surely anyone can afford that.


	Logged

OldLarsy

Group 1
user 177

Offline
Posts: 18695

2009-Aug-06, 07:09 AM

gratlog writes ... 2009-Aug-06, 07:07 AM

With free entry you will get anyone wandering in and they won't even have a bet or buy anything.

Well it seems there is less than 981 of that category in Sydney biggrin


	Logged

gratlog

Group 1
user 5

Offline
Posts: 12700

2009-Aug-06, 07:12 AM

I'm a greedy bugger and love those quiet days at the track midweek. Thumb Up


	Logged

Pages: [1] Go Up

« previous next »

Racehorse TALK