Goodwood and Galway week is one in the racing calendar that showcases the easy every-day nature of this wonderful sport.
They are quirky tracks and plenty of hard-luck stories but the quality is reasonable enough overall. Five days of Goodwood and seven days of Galway. Two different festivals that deliver the same good-natured feel-good factor. Both are well-supported and there is a sense of community that racing thrives upon.
This should be the direction of travel racecourses across the land seize upon. There is a track in pretty much every corner of Britain and Ireland. A lot of them can play significant roles in the community. Yes, primarily, they stage racing – the clue is in the name but so many host a whole lot more. Awards nights, farmers markets, wedding fayres, family fun-days, discos, concerts… heck, even some of them were vaccination centres when Covid came calling.
Kyprios strides clear to win the Goodwood Cup by four lengths in imperious style
Big Evs grimly holds on to win the Group Two King George Stakes in gutsy fashion
Guineas winner Notable Speech bounced back to form to land the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood
At a time when high streets are on the floor and community spirit ebbing away in so many parts of the country, racing can have a role to play if everyone lowers their sights a shade. There are so many sports racing has to compete with. Royal Ascot was sidelined by the European Championships, Goodwood was put on the backburner in an Olympics year. The Derby clashes with the FA Cup final. And with the domestic football season now round the corner, racing will fight in vain again to get his voice heard.
ITV ensures it has a valuable voice in the mainstream media, shows like Champions: Full Gallop are welcome PR exercises that can expand the sport’s audience but racing’s renewed efforts of competing with high-end, elite and expensive sports seem futile and, in truth, are coming off a little desperate. Not every feature race on Saturday must be built up like a World Cup final. In the search for storylines, the essence of live sport is slowly being lost. The entertainment is the live sport.
For most, the closest the average person gets to access of top-end sport are these fly-on-the-wall documentaries like golf’s Full Swing, tennis’ Break Point and Formula One’s Drive to Survive on Netflix, the numerous Amazon shows that follow any American Football team, Premier League club, international teams in cricket and football. It’s easier to list what’s not been covered than what hasn’t. It’s been done to death and there’s little value in racing following suit.
This is a spectator sport and it needs people through the gates. Price it right and there’s the untapped potential for racecourses. Those sick and tired of seeing their season tickets, the price of major sporting events absolutely sky-rocket as much as their bills and mortgages. Those who want to view sport live and in person, not through the myriad of glitzed-up TV subscriptions. The thing about all these documentary series is that for all the intriguing side stories, we know the main plotline. We know the result because we love the sport. And that’s the only show in town. Live sport. Not the analysis. Not the graphics. Not the side-events. Not the famous people in the crowd. Sport.
Racing is the second-most popular spectator sport in the country. There is a widespread appeal and it’s every day presence can be a source of good. If things were made a little bit more affordable with ticket prices and inside the gates then there is serious potential to grow audiences that way. But betting is key and can no longer be ignored.
After attending Ayr for four successive Mondays at a cost of £92 to see mostly low-grade racing, there was an opportunity to win money. After landing the placepot on the last week, I was able to leave in overall profit for the four days across a month’s racing at my local track.
People might grumble about £23 a pop to watch mostly Class 6 racing but it’s a whole afternoon of live sport, you see all the horses up close, there are food and drink options, plenty of offers for concessions, lots of space and extra activities for kids to run around and, do your homework successfully you can win at least some of the money back with a bit of luck. All things considered, it’s not too bad.
Put it this way, you’d have to shell out at least four times a month more for Discovery+, Sky Sports, TNT Sports, Premier Sports, Racing TV, *insert your favourite football club* TV and if you are inclined for some sports documentaries then Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ don’t come cheap either.
Opera Singer (left) was pitch perfect in claiming the Nassau Stakes for trainer Aidan O’Brien
Elite sport is becoming a saturated glitzy TV product. It’s a sad sight and those priced out of attending are going elsewhere to get their fill of live sport. Many support their local non-league team over their big club because they need the backing. Racing can do likewise with the cheap and cheerful approach. Stop this constant weekly chasing for the stars, competing with sports that are so rich they don’t even need people to be there to make it profitable.
There are bad races like there are bad 0-0 football matches. It’s sport. Not everything will be top class and fit for a documentary. Racing isn’t like that. It needs people to attend. And the opportunity is there if racecourses start to price it right.
STAYING KING KYPRIOS THE UNDOUBTED STAR AT GOODWOOD
Notable Speech, Big Evs, Audience and Opera Singer were all significant winners in the big races at Glorious Goodwood this week but the highlight was Kyprios’ romp of the Goodwood Cup.
He’s precisely the type of horse that makes you fall in love with the sport. The six-year-old trained by Aidan O’Brien oozes class and treated his staying rivals with contempt to win by four lengths. ‘He’s so much better than anything else,’ said jockey Ryan Moore, a comment that can also apply to the rider this week at Goodwood.
This was such a comprehensive victory that would have been achieved over any ground or trip over the staying division. There were doubts about Kyprios; hit fitness, the suitability to his track and whether he really is that good because he does little when he hits the front. That all changed on Tuesday with a classy performance that smashed the course record. It was effortlessly impressive.
The best stayer since Yeats and there’s time on the clock to emulate him given his superiority in the division.
SELECTION OF THE DAY…
PUCHKINE (9-1 betfair) won the Prix Jean Prat with a good degree of authority and the drop in trip for today’s Prix Maurice de Gheest (3.07) does not look like a negative for Jean-Claude Rouget’s improving three-year-old. Low draws have held sway in recent renewals of this Group One prize in Deauville. He rates a good each-way bet in a competitive race.
