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    Is the Punchestown Premiere Weekend Showing Racing How to Do It?

    Full On Fella Posted on

    Horse racing fans love to be able to get along and watch live racing, which is the lifeblood of the sport.

    The industry itself is trying more and more ways to get young people to fall in love with horse racing, knowing that that is the only way to secure its long-term future.

    The problem is, going to the races is mostly an incredibly expensive thing to do, not only because of the cost of tickets but the price of things once you get inside the racecourse.

    As a result, fewer and fewer people are able to get along to the races. Punchestown, the Irish racecourse, looks to be trying to buck that trend, however. Should more courses follow suit?

    Going to the Races is Pricey

    In the September of 2024, Willie Mullins, who is the most successful trainer in the history of the Cheltenham Festival, said that the event has now become too expensive for the ordinary punter to get along and enjoy. The Jockey Club, which owns Cheltenham Racecourse amongst many others, carried out a review in the wake of the attendance declining for the second year in a row.

    Outsiders blamed the cost of tickets, as well as how expensive the food and drink is once you actually get inside the racecourse, for the reason that more and more people are refusing to attend, with Mullins seeming to agree with this critique.

    @the.racing.lifepodcast #content #fypagetiktok❤️❤️ #fypage #horseracing #theracinglife #costofliving ♬ original sound – The Racing Life

    A pint of Guinness, for example, is £7.80 at the racecourse. That does not compare well to the average cost of £5.66 for Guinness in pubs around the country. Speaking to Racing TV, Mullins said, “We all know what is wrong with Cheltenham and it has just got too expensive for ordinary punters to go there for a day’s racing and if they want to get the people back there, then it’s cost, nothing to do with the horses that are running”.

    It is a feeling that ordinary racing fans have been expressing for some time, feeling as though the cost of attending a racecourse isn’t worth it when the level of races on offer has been declining.

    Punchestown are Doing it Right

    When the Punchestown Premiere Weekend rolls around in November, the punters there will be more than happy with the cost of their tickets. Those in attendance will, in the vast majority of instances, have paid just €25 for both days of the weekend. You might think that such a low price means that they aren’t going to be able to watch particularly good racing, but that isn’t the case.

    The Premiere Weekend includes the Grade 1 double-header of the Morgiana Hurdle and John Durkan Chase, as well as other Graded and Listed races as well as some cross-country racing. Four hours of excellent racing across two days for a decent price.

    That feels like the sort of pricing structure that be in place across racing, yet it is really only the Irish racecourse that seems to be able to offer decent value for money on a regular basis. On New Year’s Eve, for example, you can enter the course for free in order to watch some racing, whilst racing in April is available for as little as €30 each.

    There is a similarly priced ticket for the Aintree Grand National Festival, yet the cost of racing at Jockey Club courses is normally significantly above that. It is also cheaper to eat and drink at Punchestown, so your overall cost is going to be much cheaper than if you attend a Jockey Club course.

    Is Racing Killing Itself?

    The Premiere Weekend at Punchestown is proof that horse racing as a sport can be affordable. The problem is, that isn’t the case at the vast majority of racecourses around the United Kingdom. As a result, there is a feeling amongst some horse racing fans that the sport is slowly killing itself.

    All of the enticements for younger people won’t make any difference to the sport’s long-term future if young people won’t be able to afford to get into the courses when they grow older. Those at the top of the sport would no doubt say that they are being kept down by the likes of affordability checks, but that feels like a weak excuse.

    Hundreds of thousands of people attend Cheltenham Racecourse over the course of the Gold Cup weekend, yet the Jockey Club insists on charge outrageous prices for food and drink once they’re in there. No doubt those in charge would say that it’s necessary in order to cover the costs of hosting the event, to say nothing of the fact that courses only have a finite number of meetings across the course of the year.

    In truth, though, that is not a good enough reason to charge such eye-watering sums for the likes of a pint of Guinness or a burger. If racing wants to survive in the long-term, Punchestown might be the formula other courses need to follow.

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