‘FREE admission’ racedays continue to be proving popular at Irish racecourses, with a gate sponsored by the Irish National Professional Bookmakers Association (INPBA) at Navan last Saturday hailed as a “massive success”.

It was remarked by a number of trainers, bookmakers and officials this week that there was a real feel-good factor at Navan’s National Hunt finale, despite there being no graded race on the card. The track’s general manager Ciaran Flynn has confirmed that crowds were double what they were a year ago for the same fixture when the initiative was not in place.

The strong turnout follows on a theme of well-attended meetings when the gate has been sponsored in recent times, including for Gowran Park’s Red Mills raceday last month and another INPBA-backed card at Thurles in January.

The Tote also supported a free gate at Punchestown on New Year’s Eve that received positive reports in terms of attendance uplifts.

Flynn told The Irish Field: “After being under pressure with weather throughout the winter, we ended our jumps season with what felt like an all-round great day last weekend.

“The good weather definitely helped, but the bookmakers sponsoring the gate was a massive success.

“I think the bookmakers were very happy with it; their turnover was well up on the same day 12 months earlier. It definitely created a new dimension to the day. We probably doubled what we had through the gate last year. To have just over 3,000 in, when we’re probably maxed out at around 4,500 to 5,000 for our big festival days like the Troytown, is obviously good to see.”

On the dynamic of the public entering for free, Flynn noted: “The gate being sponsored does seem to encourage people to come, but you need to make sure it’s landing on a day that works and makes sense for everyone. For example, we’re racing again on Monday and it wouldn’t really help to run the same thing on that card.

Finding balance

“I think those weekend fixtures that aren’t quite as prominent as your big days can be ones to be impacted by something like this. I don’t think it’s something you do probably more than once a year, bearing everything in mind.

“Another part of the idea was having people sign up in advance. On one hand, you get a good idea of how many are interested in coming, and then you also have their data to try to get them back in the future.

“All in all, it was a massive success and there was a great atmosphere around the place.”

The trio of Meath-trained Cheltenham Festival winners, Wodhooh (Gordon Elliott), Final Orders (Gavin Cromwell) and The Mourne Rambler (Noel Meade), were all on parade at the card, as has been the case at this Navan fixture in previous years. Flynn is hopeful that those who availed of the INPBA offering can be converted into more regular racegoers going forward.

“The bookmakers don’t even necessarily expect that it will be a complete crowd of punting people who are coming through the gates when they do this. I think they’re happy to be giving something back to racing, and maybe getting new people to the track,” he said.

“Even if those newer faces aren’t betting or are only having a small bet this time around, maybe they’ll be more inclined to get involved on their next visit to the races.”