April 17, 2016
The opening stanza of The Championships at Randwick a fortnight ago reportedly drew 22,000 patrons.
The weather was ideal. Winx and Chautauqua topped the bill. And the prize money was simply immense.
But given the size of Sydney, the racing folk involved in the Newmarket yearling sales and the long term promotion, the attendance figure was extremely disappointing for such an illustrious program.
No doubt the marketing and other arms of the Australian Turf Club would like to know what went wrong.
So too may the NSW Government politicians and officials who organised substantial multi-million dollar funding for the two day venture.
A trawl of figures for some of the major national race meetings confirms there is a continuing decline in racegoer numbers.
The 2004 Golden Slipper, for example, drew 32,666 while this year barely 20,000 went through the gates.
The gradual downturn is not surprising, given the advances in technology which mean punters can now place a bet from anywhere on the globe, the growth of counter-attractions and the availability of free-to-air television coverage.
Overall, betting has increased – principally through the overseas-owned corporate bookmaking companies.
However that source of income is, in a sense, secondary to the totally direct avenue of on-course spending by patrons, a stream that the hosts have more control over.
Whilst country clubs’ admission charges are paid in cash at the gate, their larger city counterparts also have pre-paid computerised ticketing processes that would contain a database of contact details for patrons.
This could well be used to survey folk who, say, attended in 2014 but skipped this year.
Yes, a long list of possible problems can be made. But real research is better than guessing.
Another worrying issue is that carnival days for some people are simply like going to an alfresco sunlit night club, and the racing is a minor aspect of the day out.
Many in the mob are never close enough to the action to hear a whinny, clip clop or regulated swishes of the whip. In fact, they are watching the same television picture they could see at home.
Tastes and fads change over time, too, and today’s public can be fickle.
Just ask the organisations at the Lions, the Reds and the former Brisbane Bullets. These were once “hottest tickets in town” locales.
Another major task for all clubs is to attract new blood to their game.
Country courses deliberately (or inadvertently) often do a better job with this than the big, metropolitan relatives do.
Families find the compactness of the layout in the rural settings very user friendly, and watching horses live and up close is a much easier pursuit.
Nanango Race Club, for example, offers the “Behind The Barrier” start option as a free add-on experience.
Local community involvement is much stronger in the bush, too.
Progressive clubs are constantly seeking to extend and broaden their associations with individuals, groups, businesses and institutions. Charity fund-raisers are just one of several types of projects that have a vital mutual-benefit component.
When it comes to use of data collection, there is no better starting point than to keep in touch with club members.
While drives for new sign-ups are best aligned with the start of a fresh season, special pro-rata rates could be set up for those who would like to join part way through the 1 August-31 July term.
Racing – particularly in Queensland – faces enormous challenges in the next few years.
So it really is a time to start the search for sensible survival strategies.
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Anzac Day At Wondai
The April 25 Anzac Day Race Meeting is usually one of Wondai’s best attended programs.
This year, the fashion theme is Diamonds and Pearls, and there’ll be some great prizes for those who turn up snappily dressed.
All the club’s other facilities – canteen, bar, betting ring – will be operating as usual and offering patrons a great day out at the track.
I will have a preview of the card next week.
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Star Power At Nanango On May 28?
Thanks to the generosity of Nanango’s Heritage Community Bank, the new Heritage Bank Nanango Film Festival will fill the void created by the Federal Governments’ axing of funding for its former travelling Big Screen Festival.
In recent years, visiting Film Festival stars like Martin Sacks and Magda Szubanski genuinely relished their visit to Lee Park.
In fact, Magda got right into the swing of the racing when she visited Lee Park in 2013 and – to judge by the photos – had more fun than she did at a host of Big Smoke celebrity galas.
For the last two years, Big Screen’s schedule didn’t coincide with a Lee Park race day, so we all missed out on a celebrity appearance at the track.
But hopefully, not so this year!
The Film Festival’s screening dates (May 27-29) fall smack bang across Nanango’s Autumn Race Meeting (May 28), and we may get to see real star power on the track again.
More race day details will be outlined here as they come to hand.
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Gympie Responds To A Difficulty
Gympie Turf Club has the privilege of conducting more meetings than any other club in the South East Queensland Country Racing Association.
It has acknowledged that there is a problem attracting appropriate fields to some feature contests.
Accordingly there is an interesting incentive bonus, known as the Goldrush Challenge, tied to the RSL Club Cup (June 25), Nolan Muster Cup (August 20) and Nationwide Civil Gympie Cup (October 22).
A $5,000 cash prize will be awarded to the trainer of the horse that scores the most points across the three races.
To be eligible, a runner must have competed in at least two of the three legs.
Points will be allocated on a 30-10-5-2 basis for the first four home, while fifth to last will each accrue a point.
The introduction of an initiative such as this was further justified by the disappointing four-horse Four Mile Sandstone Open Handicap (1030m) that was decided at the Southside course on April 9.
Hopefully, the club’s efforts in this regard will be rewarded.
However there may well be some owners who wonder why they do not get a share of the bonus.
