Recession takes its toll as Leopardstown attendance down 30%
I’ve heard it said the bad weather had a lot to do with it, but would not buy into that theory at all.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with the weather on the drive to the meeting and it was well nigh perfect on arrival.
And that was the case throughout the morning and into the early afternoon. Indeed, it didn’t turn nasty until racing was well underway.
Let’s dismiss the weather as a reason then and, perhaps, focus on the fact Leinster were playing not too far away at the RDS.
But would the real racing follower prefer to watch that shower of underachievers, rather than treat himself to what was a proper days’s sport? I think not!
The biting recession then seems the most logical cause. Leopardstown at Christmas wasn’t as good as last year, but did hold up reasonably well, all things considered.
This, however, was a particularly serious fall-off, from 9,196 a year ago to 6,299 this time round.
That’s a whopping decrease of just over 30%. Inevitably, the layers turnover suffered and they held in excess of €860,000 less.
Anyway, whatever way you look at it, to attract a little over 6,000 customers for one of the big big days of the National Hunt campaign was disappointing and worrying.
Next Sunday week will see the biggest meeting of the year at Leopardstown, featuring the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup, and the attendance that day is going to arouse more than the usual interest.
As we said here last week, no matter what happened in the Toshiba Irish Champion Hurdle it was unlikely to cause little more than a ripple in the ante-post market for Cheltenham.
And that was just about the case, despite Brave Inca producing one of his trademark displays.
Can anyone work out why he was such a drifter? I know Sublimity was strong in the market and River Liane was a rather surprise, presumably each-way, touch from 14-1 to 9-1.
Realistically, though, there were only three possible winners, Brave Inca, Muirhead and Sublimity.
The bookmakers didn’t half play the game, betting to just 114%. It was a wide-open secret what Colm Murphy was going to do with his three runners and that the race was set to be run in a manner which was all in favour of Brave Inca.
And yet many punters, particularly the bigger players, resolved to give the horse the swerve.
The performance of Muirhead throws up an intriguing scenario as far as Noel Meade winning the Champion Hurdle is concerned.
He now has three horses who all like to be ridden the same way, from behind, and are at their best on a decent surface, Muirhead, Harchibald and Jered.
You couldn’t put your trust in any of them, but collectively? Now who is going to be the first bookmaker to offer a price about Meade landing the Champion Hurdle?
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OKAY, did anyone else feel like tossing the toys out of the pram when Mourad was awarded a race, following a hearing of the Appeals Body at Gowran Park last Thursday?
Mourad had been beaten a short head by Jumbo Rio in a maiden hurdle at Punchestown on New Year’s Eve and the result stood, following in inquiry.
I had a half-decent wager on Mourad that afternoon and, quite honestly, thought the stewards got it right, allowing Jumbo Rio to keep the race.
To my eyes the interference which took place was minimal and Jumbo Rio was the best horse on the day.
Yet a different bunch of people decided he had to be disqualified, leaving us Mourad supporters sick, sore and sorry.
Just one question. In the light of this judgement, how could Allesandro Volta have been allowed to remain in front of Curtain Call, after he had literally knocked over that horse in the Irish Derby at the Curragh back in the summer?
And he was still left in front of him, following an appeal. Which was the greater crime, Jumbo Rio’s or Allesandro Volta’s? Consistency?
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THOSE of you who backed Paul Nicholls to be champion trainer in Ireland aren’t half sitting pretty this morning!
Seriously, wasn’t that offer of 5-2, or whatever, by some bookmakers the value of the century?
After all, Nicholls is currently only about €840,000 behind Willie Mullins. Ah sure, there’s always the three-card trick.
