Crowds at racing meetings over the festive period are up year on year. This is terrific news for the industry.
Despite the fog, people returned to the tracks over Christmas and now we can look forward to a much better 2025 than first anticipated.
Attendance Boost at Jumps Tracks
More racegoers came through the gates over Christmas time, but what does that mean for racing in the longer term? The fact is that our tracks are still very heavily reliant on race day revenue, so this is nothing but great news in the short term. It also means the pathetic anti-racing groups are not winning their fight.
A number of racecourses reported larger attendances versus last year. Newbury was the standout reporter, announcing a 48% rise in their attendance year-on-year for their Challow Hurdle Day.
✅ ATTENDANCE INCREASE ✅
Today’s @Coral Challow Hurdle attracted a crowd of 9,983
A 48% increase on 2023’s attendance
The family-friendly raceday never disappoints
Full story ⬇️
— Newbury Racecourse (@NewburyRacing) December 28, 2024
Their near-50% rise in attendance is somewhat of a pattern. Other courses, pre-Christmas, were seeing better numbers versus 2023 as well.
Ascot in fact reported an attendance of 19,449 for the Long Walk Hurdle on December 21. That is a definite increase on last year. Both Kempton and Wetherby also showed an uptick in visitor numbers at the track versus 2023.
He’s BACK
The mighty Constitution Hill returns from a year off the track to become the first-ever three-time winner of the Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle.
The best Christmas present @sevenbarrows could have asked for.@Ladbrokes pic.twitter.com/N8j6hbZqEI
— Kempton Park Racecourse (@kemptonparkrace) December 26, 2024
Over 20,000 were on hand at Kempton for their Christmas meeting to see Constitution Hill, Banbridge and Sir Gino. That’s up around 1,000. Wetherby reported over 10,000 being on course for their Boxing Day meeting.
What Does This Mean for Summer Racing?
The numbers we’ve been seeing over the festive period are great for racing. There’s no doubt about that. We cannot fool ourselves, however.
We can never afford to be carried away by percentages. Newbury’s 48% year-on-year increase in attendance for the Challow Hurdle looks great, but in truth that means a total of 9,983 spectators visiting versus 6,763 in 2023. Those 3,000 people per meeting cannot keep us alive.
What will truly boost racing is an increase in numbers for our Flat meetings during the summer.
Weather is of course a primary driver during the Flat season. Bands are put on by racecourses to boost attendances and keep people at the track for longer. We absolutely need that beer money.
People also come to see fast races run for bigger prize money. On the Flat, there is much greater interest worldwide. The World Pool also comes into play.
The brutal fact is that people tune in from all corners of the world to watch the Derby, Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood and races such as the Ebor. The jumps world is much, much smaller.
Say what you want about racegoers in the summer, but they spend money. We are not the Premier League with infinite TV cash to call upon – we absolutely need people coming through those gates.
The increase in numbers for a few key jumps meetings in the dead of winter is a good start, but that’s all. Let’s wait and see what we get out of the Craven Meeting in April, the Guineas Festival in May and the Derby at Epsom before we talk of a fully-fledged comeback.