Crunch time for mother-of-all festivals

AT last year’s Cheltenham Festival ‘credit crunch’ could well have been Howard Johnson’s likely outsider in the Triumph Hurdle.

However, it is a totally different world facing the Festival racegoer next week.

Unfortunately, credit crunch must now be one of the most familiar terms in the English language with the economic landscape vastly changed and the majority of the world now in the iron grip of recession.

As some big name companies continue to struggle and more gloomy reports emanate from the high street, Cheltenham are prepared for a downturn in what are testing times.

The battalions of tricolour waving Irish punters will be noticeably thinner this year. Tully Travel in Carlow is one of the market leaders in Festival packages and they admit that reduced regiments of racing fans will be crossing the Irish Sea.

A spokesperson said: “There is probably about a 20% drop off on the amount of people travelling with us to Cheltenham when compared to other years.

“The economic downturn is the chief reason for that. People who would have gone year after year, are now finding that they have other priorities and have decided against travelling for a variety of reasons.”

However she insisted that there are some positives to be accrued from the situation.

“For the first time ever we have opportunities for one night stays in hotels. That means punters can now enjoy two days racing and return on the second day.

“In the past hotels wanted three or four night stays and there was no way around that but now people can, and are opting for the shorter option.”

She added: “When there are less people at the racecourse, it can often be more enjoyable for punters on the big days. And of course the euro is doing well against sterling at the moment which is another positive.

“Despite all the doom and gloom there is quite a lot of interest; a lot of people are coming back to us in the last week. As the festival gets closer, the itch to go become stronger.”

Cheltenham’s managing director Edward Gillespie is convinced that the slide in the value of sterling could provide the decisive factor for those Irish punters humming and hawing over a visit to the Cotswolds.

He reasoned: “In all this economic doom and gloom, the euro has never been stronger and it’s is better value for Irish race goers this year.”

But he isn’t ignoring the economic elephant in the room He revealed: “Ticket sales have been down slightly. We sold 90,000 when I would have liked to have sold 100,000 but I think it is a case of people wanting to keep their money in their pockets for longer and make a last-minute decision.

“We have such a broad spectrum of people who come to the Festival that they are obviously all having different experiences in the current economic climate.

“I think it will be an interesting barometer in terms of what people are feeling capable of in the spring.

“Hospitality will be down, we fully expect that, and I would be happy if we had 80% of last year. Although people might not be able to afford to entertain clients as they did last year, we hope they will still come and enjoy the Festival on a different level.”

Gillespie also stressed that a variety of tickets are on offer and as long as prudent wagering is the name of the game, racing can remain a reasonably-priced day out.

He added: “Our cheapest ticket is £20 which is inexpensive compared to some other sporting events and one thing some people may unfortunately have this year as to last is time.

“People have not always been able to get the time off work and those who are working reduced hours, have taken early retirement or have been made redundant might have the opportunity this year.

“We do need people’s time as well as their money. It’s not an expensive event to come to as long as you put zips on your pockets!”

Bookmakers remain similarly hopeful of bucking the downward trend Cheltenham. Irish layer Paddy Power is set to launch a charm offensive next week.

“When people see our special offer on Tuesday, every punter in Ireland in the country will be heading to our offices,” said Paddy Power.

“But seriously, bookmaking is like any industry who will have to fight tooth and nail to get customers through their doors in these tough times. In the past people weren’t too worried about value for money but that has all changed whether you are shopping around for groceries, clothing or bookmaking.

“We are not going to be alone next week in terms of special offers. Punters can expect real competition from bookmakers next week, everyone will have better offers and be trying hard to poach business from one another. If punters don’t make money this Cheltenham they never well. We are setting our stall out now and will be trying to nick as many customers from our competitors as we can — and they will be doing to same to us.”

Cheltenham week usually sees an increase of 250% on regular business and Power is optimistic that can be maintained.

“We are not expecting it to grow but I don’t expect it to plummet either. For example a lot of people that would normally travel are staying in Ireland and they will probably try and capture some of the atmosphere in a betting shop.”

William Hill representative Kate Miller also spun the positives: “We rode out the last recession in the 1990s when everyone expected the industry to suffer and we would hope to do so again. Punting is almost a social thing for some people and although they cut back on lavish expenses such as new cars and holidays, they don’t seem to deny themselves a bet.

“We obviously won’t know until after the event but we would hope turnover wouldn’t be impacted. Cheltenham is just so important for everyone in racing.”

Ladbrokes’ David Williams is also optimistic and believes the showpiece race meetings will be last to suffer.

“It will be interesting to see what happens over Cheltenham week. We obviously haven’t seen a recession or credit crunch quite like this before but it is the quieter racing that tends to suffer more than the big meetings,” he explained.