Sir, -

I’VE been reading with great interest the comparison of attendances between Ascot, Aintree and Cheltenham. As a regular racegoer in Ireland and the UK, I think that in my view, we need to be very careful not to take these at face value.

I must be honest and say that I’m allergic to Royal Ascot! It’s not for me, I wouldn’t go. However I think the team now in charge are an excellent group of people who have identified their target groups, marketed it superbly to them, and have been rewarded with magnificent attendances bucking the trend, and everyone left feeling happy and that they got exactly what they wanted for their money. Everyone involved should be applauded and given full credit for achieving this.

However, for me, comparing these attendance figures with those for Cheltenham and Aintree is a bit like comparing listening figures for Morning Ireland to those for Carl, Roz and Aisling on 2FM. Ascot are attracting a completely different customer to those for Cheltenham and Aintree.

At Ascot, the socialising and the dressing up is the most important to the customer than the racing. At Cheltenham, the racing is prime over the socialising, and at Aintree it’s half and half.

For me, the reason that the Cheltenham and Aintree crowd figures are down is the management teams are trying to turn them into “social” venues, which has sadly been detrimental to traditional customers...the racing fans.

Before Aintree’s Ladies Day was introduced, only 11,000 attended. Within five years it had skyrocketed to 55,000. The greatest crowd increase on a raceday in UK racing history. The reason for its success was that nothing was detrimental to racing fans. The ground floor remained access all areas, everyone had complete freedom and had great fun, whilst enjoying top class racing.

Nowadays, for Fridays and Saturdays, Aintree have introduced far stricter crowd control measures, cordoning off the Red Rum Garden after racing for a DJ set, whereas it was full of food outlets 20 years ago, the prices have shot through the roof, and booming loud music over the speakers.

Even Patrick Mullins stated he found the atmosphere very claustrophobic in his post-race article. Nick Rockett paraded after racing. However racegoers weren’t informed, therefore only about 50 of us stayed, amidst a backdrop of bang, bang nightclub music.

I personally felt that Cheltenham 2025 was much better than 2024 with more of the racing involved in the promotion. However, people voted with their feet after an awful 2024 experience at horrendous prices, designed completely towards the social element, and that reflected on this year’s attendance figures.

In other words, Ascot give their customers what they want and they go home happy. Cheltenham and Aintree have tried to appeal to the ‘Ascot crowd’ instead of their existing customers.

The St Leger meeting at Doncaster is among my favourite days of the UK flat, followed by today at Newcastle, wonderful days of fun and enjoyment and good competitive racing.

Back to basics

For me, it should be right back to basics for Aintree and Cheltenham. Maximum admission price less than £100 per day at the Festivals, £30 max for mid-winter days. Aintree: stop charging £70 to get on the roof to see the Becher Chase, and make it maximum £30 access all public areas like it used to be before 2022.

Give the racing fans back what they want, and they will come back. Remember the biggest competition for the racecourses now comes from Racing TV, Sky Sports Racing, RTE, TG4 and ITV. If racecourses overcharge, the fans can sit at home in their armchairs at a fraction of the cost and watch everything live. The ‘Ascot crowd’ can’t do that at home to the same extent so the competition isn’t there for them.

However for me, the attraction of going racing remains the same, regardless of what level of racing it is. Watching live sport unfold before your very eyes. There is nothing that compares to it. That will always be sport’s greatest USP.

Mike Parcej,

Wolverhampton, England