Concerns about the extent to which racing fans have “got out of the habit” of going to the track during the pandemic can only increase following the news that Chester’s prestigious May Festival from Wednesday to Friday last week attracted a total attendance of 35,000 – a 35% drop from the 53,500 who were at the course over the same three days in 2019.
Chester is – according to Guinness World Records, at least – the world’s “oldest racecourse still in operation” with a history dating back to 1539, and also one of Britain’s best-attended tracks, thanks in part to its memorable setting and layout, between the historic city’s Roman walls and the River Dee.
In 2019, its 15 meetings, all on the Flat, attracted a total of 240,541 racegoers, an average attendance of 16,000 for every card, while the reported crowds for the three-day May Festival were 15,340, 15,148 and then 22,926 for the Chester Cup on Friday.
All British racing was suspended in May 2020 and the meeting was cancelled, while the sport was still behind closed doors when the May Festival returned in 2021. The first renewal with full crowds for three years, however, pulled in “8,000 then just over 11,000 and just over 15,000” according to Louise Stewart, the track’s new chief executive, who was overseeing her first May Festival last week.
That represents a significant loss in revenue, not just for the racecourse but the local economy as a whole. Chester was noticeably quiet on Wednesday, both at the track and in the city – eerily so for veterans of a meeting where the daily attendance had not previously dropped below 11,000 this century – and while there was much more of an atmosphere on Thursday and Friday, there was still plenty of breathing space for the Roodee’s racegoers.
That, of course, may have made it a more enjoyable afternoon for the punters, and shorter queues for bars, toilets and betting may well have upped the spend-per-racegoer. But the huge hit to ticket revenue will be a hefty blow to absorb, for all that the course was expecting a drop in numbers.
“What we have seen is lower walk-ups than in previous years, and that is common across all racecourses at the moment,” Stewart said on Monday. “There are also a lot of variables at play, especially with the May Festival. People have got out of the habit of going racing, the weather was quite bad the last time [it was staged with a full attendance] and there’s also what’s happening in the wider world.
“There was an obvious bounce-back in the events sector after the pandemic when people were delighted to be out and spending again, but now there is the cost of living crisis and the cost of fuel, there are quite a few new variables and it’s very difficult for anyone to predict how it is going to play out.
“We’ve yet to analyse spend-per-head across the three days but the rest of the season looks strong and we will still be offering our open course ticket in the summer, which means that you can park up close to trackside for £10. It really is a course with something for everyone.”
Sedgefield
1.00 Rock Legend
1.30 Gosuatri
2.00 North Parade
2.30 Lucky One
3.00 Emorelle
3.30 Cilluirid
4.00 Hidalgo De L’Isle
Chepstow
1.15 Dundory
1.45 Kiteflyer
2.20 Macs Dilemma
2.40 Cucumbear
3.20 Rhubarb
3.50 Catbird Seat
4.20 Eagles Dare
Beverley
2.10 Miss Mai Tai
2.40 Vaunted
3.10 High Security
3.40 Hardy
4.10 Animato
4.45 Appier
5.20 Tamarama
Lingfield
5.10 English Spirit
5.45 Kingofhell
6.15 Griggy
6.45 Knebworth
7.15 Aurora Star
7.45 Rogue Mission (nap)
8.15 Meadram
Newcastle
5.30 Murau
6.00 Cusack
6.30 Busby
7.00 Adjourn
7.30 Dougies Dream (nb)
8.00 Tothenines
8.30 Rockprincess
Significant meetings at Newmarket, Sandown and Newbury have all seen substantial drops in attendance compared to 2019 in recent weeks and months. Crowd figures for Aintree’s Grand National meeting – where, as with Chester, spectators returned for the first time in three years – were more encouraging, however, with 138,554 tickets sold for the three-day meeting, a drop of just 1,000 on the 2019 attendance.
Chester, though, clearly has a long way to go to work its way back to pre-pandemic attendance levels, while the scale of the task facing tracks like York, Newmarket, Goodwood and perhaps even Ascot will become apparent as the season unfolds over the months ahead.
Catterick
1.30 Langholm
2.00 Fragrance
2.30 Blackcurrent
3.00 Haven Lady
3.30 Ustath
4.00 Tiger Spirit
4.30 Mahanakhon
Wolverhampton
1.40 Bang On The Bell
2.10 Global Effort
2.40 You're Cool
3.10 Jenny Ren
3.40 Robasta
4.10 Hachert
4.40 Four Feet
5.13 Courtside (nap)
Musselburgh
1.45 Chattel Village
2.20 Ayr Empress
2.50 Sun Festival
3.20 Aquamas
3.50 Albegone
4.20 Rum Going On
4.50 Bramham
Windsor
5.05 Carp Kid
5.40 Radio Goo Goo
6.10 Tomouh
6.40 Modern News
7.10 Royal Aviation (nb)
7.40 Crystal Delight
8.10 Punda Maria
Southwell
5.20 Capricia
5.50 Percussion
6.20 Treyarnon Bay
6.50 Clear The Runway
7.20 Coastguard Station
7.50 Mr Dealer
8.20 Brianna Rose
Rich Strike lifts Kentucky Derby
Attendance at the Kentucky Derby, America’s biggest day out at the races, has also been edging down in recent years from the record high of 170,513 in 2015, and dropped below 150,000 for the first time since 2004 on Saturday when 147,294 were at Churchill Downs to see Rich Strike, an 80-1 outsider, win the Run For The Roses.
It is all a little relative when numbers are that high, however, and Rich Strike’s backstory was as remarkable as it was heartwarming. Eric Reed’s runner scraped into the race from the reserve list just moments before the deadline, while his rider, Sonny Leon, went into the most famous two minutes in American sport without a single win in any graded stakes race to his name, never mind in a Grade One or Triple Crown event.
But he came up with one of the most extraordinary winning rides the Kentucky Derby has seen, taking advantage of a frantic early pace to deliver Rich Strike to lead well inside the final furlong, having had just two horses behind him with six furlongs to run. Even the NBC commentator did not mention Rich Strike’s astonishing run until he was already in front, nine strides from the line.
The overhead view makes Rich Strike's comeback for the upset @KentuckyDerby win look even more incredible. 😮 #KyDerby | @ChurchillDowns pic.twitter.com/iDfkGVZS0O
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) May 8, 2022
And while the crowd was slightly down, the all-important betting handle set a new record, with total turnover on the feature race of $168.8m (£136m) and $263.3m (£212m) on the 14-race card as a whole. There were no reported injuries to any horses or riders, two horses formerly trained by Bob Baffert finished a long way back, and this was also the first Derby for decades in which the use of the anti-bleeding medication Lasix was banned.
The Lasix ban will extend to the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes, the next two legs of the Triple Crown, and the ultimate target in US racing is a complete ban on raceday Lasix from 1 July 2022, when the new Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act will come into effect.
Some may argue or wish otherwise, but slowly, steadily, American racing seems to be turning itself around.
