Racing needs Racegoers© Photo Healy Racing
It’s the little pictures that impact every day so while the big picture right now may be about classics and corruption sometimes racing loses out on simple things like a can of Coke: specifically the cost of it. In big picture terms this is clearly trivial stuff but since a core strategic ambition for racing is to increase attendance levels at tracks it can hardly be dismissed as irrelevant either.
A much more regular racegoer than this space was in high dudgeon recently at being asked to fork up three Euro for a can of said Coke. “I wouldn’t mind, but it was one of those ones sold in a pack. It even had ‘not to be sold individually’ written around the top,” he complained. “And it was sold on its own – for three quid!” This was followed by a “never again” vow about going racing that it’s safe to assume has been broken already.
That’s the thing with racing’s core audience: like junkies, they mostly come back. But it’s dangerous to presume on that. Mostly doesn’t mean always.
Anyone who goes racing can outline similar retail horror stories: tales of two Euro for a pack of chewing gum that cost less than half that in the shops; wildly expensive bits of straggly beef that look to still have the mark of where the jockey was hitting it; warm water masquerading as coffee sold by businesses with a fondness for rounding prices up and adopting a largely dismissive attitude towards cents.
None of which in itself is too outrageous but which can contribute to a sense of being taken for a ride that in turn may build up into “never again” outbursts of frustration. Not everyone, and especially not the floating vote that racing so desperately craves, can be guaranteed to come trudging back through the gates once the red mist disappears. Of course some tracks are honourable exceptions in providing admission prices that are at least competitive in terms of the overall entertainment market. The E20 family price for two adults and kids that is on offer for instance at Naas today is a reflection that racing has to deal in the reality of trying to attract custom that might by necessity be pinching every possible penny but which also has options.
Some tracks even follow through on that once the punter is in. Others though reckon the hard part is done. And it’s not really enough for racing’s brass to simply pass the blame to contractors who in turn point to the expense of providing one-off facilities: how expensive will it be to try and lure back those disillusioned by the cost of a day-out where prices can sometimes seem like they’re being made up on the spot?
There appears to be a depressing precision about reports of 250kg of the banned anabolic steroid Nitrotain imported by the former state veterinary inspector John Hughes, enough apparently for 62,500 individual doses. It appears the substances were imported from Australia where the firm involved continues to assist the Turf Club and the Department of Agriculture with information.
That level of material suggests any lingering hopes that this might be some small-scale aberration by a tiny minority looks destined to be consigned to the wishful-thinking bin.
A vacuum of uncertainty has developed on the back of a now infamous if unseen list of people connected to Hughes which remains out of the public arena but which has resulted in endless speculation in terms of names. It has got to the stage where only the most obscure of trainers and organisations haven’t been mentioned in terms of possible anabolic steroid abuse.
No doubt there are legal reasons aplenty for not releasing this list but if any reform in the medication area is to be meaningful, then ultimately everything has to be put out in the open, and the sooner the better. Right now though, the general impression seems to be that, bad and all as things have been in the first half of 2014, we’ve seen nothing yet. But if the prospect of the 235th Epsom Derby doesn’t cheer you up, then you’re probably looking for your sporting kicks in the wrong places. Tradition dictates it doesn’t get any better. European racing revolves around two races – the Derby and the Arc. A place in history awaits Saturday’s winner.
The consensus appears to be Australia will be that winner, but how much of that consensus has been built up by Coolmore hype? He may well be the best ever through Aidan O’Brien’s hands. And he may well win the Derby by a furlong. But boil it down to bare facts right now and we’re dealing with a Group 3 winner and Group 1 placed colt.
Yes he could hardly be better bred, and that Group 1 placing looks a strong piece of form, but is that enough to make him odds-on or has everyone got swept up in a consensus tide.
Australia’s cause is hardly harmed by the fact that the nearest to him in the betting, and the only other colt at a single figure price is his stable companion, Geoffrey Chaucer, who looks like he should progress significantly from that Derrinstown run where he didn’t get a clear passage.
Geoffrey Chaucer is a general 6-1 shot, the Derrinstown runner up Fascinating Rock is 12-1, and the horse first past the post in that Leopardstown race, Ebanoran, is a general 16-1 chance which to these eyes makes him a reasonable each-way option.
The fact he runs at all is surely significant. John Oxx has run just three horses in the Derby. Sinndar and Sea The Stars both won and the trainer remains convinced Alamshar should have. There could hardly be a less scattergun approach to the race.
Anyone concerned about Ebanoran’s wayward passage up the Derrinstown straight should take into account Oxx’s suspicion that the second swerve towards Fascinating Rock was a result of shying away from a photographer through inexperience rather than temperament.
At a big price, all that’s enough to encourage a little investment.
