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THERE were 11,500 people at Gowran Park last Saturday, an all-time record for the venue, and none of them paid to get in.
Local feed company Connolly’s Red Mills sponsored the gate, and racegoers just had to register their interest on the Gowran Park website in advance to get two free tickets.
Walking through the enclosure, one could not but notice the large number of families and young people present. I stood at the main exit for over an hour after the last race and it seemed that almost every racegoer was smiling and in great form, having had a good experience.
It’s safe to say that many of them will return, not just to Gowran, but to other racecourses when the opportunity comes up. Who knows, they could be future racehorse owners too.
So, is this what Irish racing has to do to win new fans? Is it a viable strategy for other racecourses to try?
The Gowran Park case is not unique. Bookmakers Sean Graham and Bar One Racing have done similar things in the past, and the Curragh has opened its gates for a couple of ‘industry days’ at the backend of the season. Most recently Punchestown offered free entry on New Year’s Eve thanks to a Tote initiative and it was well received.
We asked a number of stakeholders for their views.
‘Too much is made about the
cost of attending a race meeting’
EDDIE SCALLY
Gowran Park manager
WE had a capacity crowd of 11,500 here and that is our largest ever recorded attendance.
Connolly’s Red Mills need to take most of the credit for this initiative, and for their support of Gowran Park. This is our second season hosting the free admission day and it has been a huge success.
Tickets were allocated through the Future Ticketing booking system which allowed people to get a maximum of two tickets each, which they downloaded and could either print out or show on their phones at the entrance. Physical tickets were distributed by Connolly’s Red Mills reps and through their stores.
I am sure some people were left disappointed but we tried our best to issue everyone that applied with tickets. The tickets were released on a staggered basis over a three-week period. The full allocation was gone by last Friday afternoon so at that point we asked people not to attend unless they had a ticket.
Extra staff were required in all areas on the day, so costs obviously increased. However, our sales on the day, plus our sponsor’s support, covered all these extra costs. Our catering and bar providers Good Enuf To Eat cover the entertainment costs.
The main advantage to us was obviously the huge attendance on the day but this was most certainly not the only advantage. Areas that we were thrilled with included raceday sponsor’s satisfaction, PR from hosting such an event, media attendance, the attraction of new attendees, growth in our social media channels, atmosphere on the day, and goodwill of patrons attending.
The only disadvantage is the management of such a large attendance.
It’s not for me to say whether more racecourses should go down this road. Too much is made about the cost of attending a race meeting and I am not convinced the general admission price is a massive contributing factor to people attending or not.
As for advice to other tracks, I can only tell you what we have done:
GARETH CONNOLLY
Chief executive, Connolly’s Red Mills
THIS initiative was driven by Covid. Traditionally we gave tickets to customers and we had a marquee to entertain as many as we could but it was impossible to cover all our customers.
Our 2021 raceday was behind closed doors and when things reopened again in 2022 we felt people weren’t quite comfortable yet to be packed into a marquee. So, between Eddie [Scally] and our own brand managers Jane and Caroline Davis – who have a lot of racecourse experience – they came up with this idea to open the day up to everyone.
This allowed us to look after our own team, suppliers, clients, support the racecourse which we have been associated with for so long, the local community and the wider industry. It was a win for everyone.
Eddie and his team were able to add on the social pieces – the fashion, the entertainment – and it all just worked very well.
The ticket allocation was handled by Liam Holton’s Future Ticketing and it was seamless. Racegoers told us it worked very well. The fact that people had to register meant that the racecourse now know who they are and can market to them in future. We also asked them if they owned a pet or a horse, so we may gain new business as well, though of course people can choose not to be contacted if they wish.
Looking around last Saturday there was a great cross-section of people there. From regulars to first-timers, people of all ages and families.
We’ve been sponsoring Red Mills day for 43 years now and you have to try and freshen things up every now and then. We’re very proud of how successful last Saturday was for the track. I had one well-known racing man say to me ‘Gowran doesn’t have a festival meeting like the bigger tracks but you have two huge days [Thyestes and Red Mills] which no other country track has.’ That was lovely to hear.
Perhaps in the future the free admission initiative will lose its value for people, we will have to see.
‘The bigger picture is getting the next generation to have a look’
BRIAN GRAHAM
Director, Sean Graham Bookmakers
ABOUT 20 years ago we sponsored the gate at Downpatrick. It was the May meeting and it clashed with the FA Cup Final, which was a bigger deal back then than it is now.
Iain Duff, who was the manager at the time, told us there might only be 500 paying customers so we said we would pay for those if he opened the gates. It only cost us a few grand and the attendance trebled.
Nowadays there are so many more things competing for the public’s free time. Racing has to do as much as possible to maintain its appeal.
Offering free admission isn’t just about getting a few extra people in to have a bet with the bookmakers. The bigger picture is getting the next generation to come and have a look.
Great job
I think Gowran Park did a great job last weekend and I am sure plenty of first-timers had a great day. Punchestown on New Year’s Eve was very successful as well. Looking ahead there’s a meeting at Thurles the day after Cheltenham which also clashes with the rugby. I think that’s a fixture which would benefit from free admission too. We need more thinking outside the box.
Another point I’d like to make is that all-flat cards are a turn-off, excluding the big days. I understand why mixed meetings have been stopped everywhere except Galway but I think it’s a mistake.
Look at the first two days in Listowel – they are a complete waste of time. Add in a maiden hurdle and a handicap hurdle. The authorities should look at how much would that cost and what would the benefits be.
‘We bought the gate and the crowd was three times bigger than usual’
BARNEY O’HARE
Owner of Bar One Racing
JUST before Christmas we did a deal with Dundalk Stadium to allow racegoers in free. It was an industry day and they knew themselves very few would attend. So we bought the gate and the crowd was three times bigger than usual.
It was good for Dundalk and it worked for us as we had more punters on the day. We did something similar at Naas a few years back and I would definitely be on for more of them.
We recently took over the betting shop in Navan Racecourse and upgraded it, installed new technology, and now it is packed at every meeting. The racecourse manager, Aidan McGarry, tells me people are coming to the races just for the betting shop, because they have the best of both worlds! It goes to show that you just need to get people in to see what a day at the races can offer.
CONOR O’NEILL
Punchestown chief executive
The Tote sponsored free admission at Punchestown on New Year’s Eve, the first leg of a three-year deal. It was a fantastic success. The atmosphere was great, the crowd was good, and the goodwill and positive feedback was phenomenal.
It worked for us and it worked for Gowran Park last Saturday. However, I would add that free admission can make a good day’s racing great but it wouldn’t work on a bad day’s racing. In the past we have offered free admission for some rescheduled fixtures or industry days and you wouldn’t see any impact. Another obvious point is that it has to make financial sense for the racecourse.
A SENIOR racing administrator told The Irish Field that while the Red Mills/Gowran Park initiative was clearly a success on many levels, the concept of giving free admission is not a good long-term strategy for any premium sport or entertainment.
The high-ranking figure, who asked not to be named in case their comments were misconstrued as being in any way critical of positive racecourse initiatives, said: “The Red Mills day works because they are a local brand and they are paying for the gate. It’s also important to point out that Gowran Park runs it own bar and catering facilities, so it is in their own interests to get more people in and look after them. At most other tracks the catering is provided by a contractor who pay a fixed fee and maybe a small percentage of turnover to be there.
“In general though, I would worry about racing’s attitude towards free tickets. More so than in any other sport I know of, there is a perception in racing that there is always a way to get in for nothing and ‘free admission’ initiatives feed that perception.
“Sometimes you hear people say that the best way to fill a racecourse is to get a sponsor, like a brewery or a betting chain, to give out free tickets to all their customers. To me, that lowers the perceived value of the product. It’s not a good long-term plan and you don’t see any other sport doing it.
“The same people may say racing is too expensive compared to other sports, like rugby or soccer. I tend to find that very often those people don’t go to those games and really can’t make a valid comparison of what is good value.
“A recent survey carried out by the Racing Post found that a day’s racing in Ireland was far better value than in Britain.
“A sales strategy that appears to be working well for some bigger racecourses here is one which involves selling packages or premium tickets in advance.
“When these limited offers ‘sell out’, the racecourse is able to broadcast that fact to stimulate demand and create a perception of scarcity and value around getting a ticket.”
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