The vivid complaints of those who paid to be at Longchamp on Sunday suggest to me failures on a grand scale by the French racing authorities. If you’re going to hike your ticket price to €75 for general admission, thereby slashing your crowd to 35,000 from 55,000, the very least you should be doing is offering a really big welcome for those loyal folk who still come.
Instead, we get reports of queues for food, drink, toilets and betting that forced people to choose between waiting their turn and watching the next race. Apparently, some finally reached the front of the food queues and were told there was nothing left to buy. That a crowd of that reduced size should have been treated in that way is unforgivable.
British and Irish punters who travel to Longchamp in October are, in the main, bursting with goodwill towards the event, thrilled to be in Paris and the envy of their friends back home. Something has gone badly awry when so many of them are moved to express their disappointment on social media.
I was at the Arc as a spectator a dozen years ago and remember how disappointing the facilities were then, with a woefully inadequate range of food outlets. If you wanted a sit-down meal at an affordable price, there was one little restaurant which was naturally packed the whole time.
Longchamp was shambolic on Sunday. We queued for 45 mins at one bar only for it to be summarily closed by the barmaid once we’d reached the front of the queue. Really poor. Enable delivered though, so all in all - a great day. @Stevolution76
— Tim Jones #Filthy (@TimJones_dydx) October 8, 2018
Longchamp in those days was well known for its faded grandeur and you didn’t particularly mind because you were There For The Arc. One day, they would doubtless get around to modernising the whole thing.
Agree. No way near enough toilets and facilities not able to cope with amount of people. As ticket prices had been bumped up everyone rightly expected a better experience. Wine all sold out before the 3rd race. I think on another race day it would be awesome but arc day no
— Ben Wickens (@Ben_Wickens) October 8, 2018
It is heartbreaking to learn that, after £110m being splurged on a new stand, the old issues persist. I can’t help thinking that the problem may be one of attitude. When, over the years, I’ve probed the question of why racecourses in Paris struggle to attract crowds apart from Arc day, I’ve sometimes been told that racing is seen there as an entertainment for the wealthy, that your typical French person feels their presence is not desired.
Senior figures in French racing have assured me they would like to dispel any such feeling, that they would very much love bigger crowds. But, ach, why should we believe that when you blew such an obvious chance to show folk a good time?
I have to say the new Longchamp isn’t as nice as the old,two small bars and massive queue’s for the toilets and a much smaller paddock stand
— William Power (@liamson100) October 7, 2018
Longchamp should have been overflowing with bonhomie on Sunday, with food piled high and sold cheap. It would have been worth taking a hit on the bottom line, just to send everyone away happy and have them come back in greater numbers next year. Since that didn’t happen, we must wait to see how French racing’s rulers now try to get back the lost goodwill. I hope they see the need.
And no, I’m not claiming the racing experience in Britain is flawless. We all remember what went wrong with Ascot’s new grandstand. Cheltenham’s facilities are under pressure when there’s 70,000 there on Gold Cup day. But you can pour 35,000 people into either venue without getting crippling queues and I’ve never known them to run out of food.
I hope that will also be true today at Ludlow, where Excellent Team (4.40) is napped for the conditional jockeys handicap hurdle. The six-year-old won this race off the same mark a year ago, also under Bridget Andrews, who rides today, and beat twice as many rivals as he faces this time.
He hasn’t run to that level since but there was renewed promise at Worcester last time, his first start since a wind op. There’s 11-4 as I type.
In Southwell’s opener, McGroarty (2.20) is backable at 11-8, which isn’t bad, considering how easily he won on his chasing debut. I take it that he is the reason Sam Twiston-Davies is at Southwell rather than Ludlow, where he could have ridden a favourite for his father.
Global Conqueror (9.10) appeals in the last at Kempton at 11-2, with excuses available for his turf defeat last time, following handicap success at Chelmsford.
Nottingham 1.30 Mohaather 2.00 On The Stage
2.30 Al Thoorayah 3.00 Surfman 3.30 Prefontaine
4.00 Soldiers Bay 4.30 Makambe 5.00 Decima
Ludlow 2.10 Shuhood 2.40 Aasleagh Dawn
3.10 Belmount 3.40 Lord Condi 4.10 Sumkindofking 4.40 Excellent Team (nap) 5.15 Trixie Mc
Southwell 2.20 Mcgroarty 2.50 Presenting Berkley 3.20 Dissavril 3.50 Fidux 4.20 Asking Questions
4.50 Megan’s Choice
Kempton 5.40 Originaire 6.10 Kings Royal Hussar
6.40 Lady Farhh 7.10 Redgrave 7.40 Dragon Mountain 8.10 Cenotaph 8.40 Chica De La Noche 9.10 Global Conqueror (nb)
