Ayr 12 February 2011

An interesting approach to entertaining the punters and getting them through the gates is seen when you compare my visit today with last week at Musselburgh.

Race courses are having to find ways of attracting their customers and last week was an excellent example of having a celebrity compere. Mind you, Musselburgh is small enough to do this, with the excellent and skilled Derek Thompson in charge of the MC duties.

Today's meeting at Ayr was billed as Valentine's Raceday. The only nod in this direction was to be seen in one hen party, one stag party, and a lot of women thinking they should dress for Ascot Ladies Day on an end of winter's day. Other than the usual band after the meeting, there was little else to share romance at the meeting.

This was also the day that the shocking news from Newbury came through on the TV screens in the lounge bar. Two horses had (possibly) been the victim of a faulty electric cable in the parade ring and had been electrocuted. This information was not know when it was announced that the meeting was to be abandoned. We wondered if it was to do with adverse weather, until the announcement included the deaths of the two horses. Then the assumption was that it was the feed or water that might have caused it. It really was like a Dick Francis novel when the facts began to emerge.

It was a challenging day to find not only a winner but a forecast in a four horse race. The latter being a turn up for the books when Robert Goldie's (son of Jim) outsider Alexander Oats beat the favourite.

There has been some roof damage in the club end of the stand and a large section of the stand was cordoned off because of this.

Another observation worth making is the approach to race cards. Free or not free? At Musselburgh they were free but Ayr, who used to hand them out, have started charging £2 for them. The upside is that this includes a £2 voucher to use on food and coffee in any of the outlets. However the catering managers at Ayr need to go a long way to improve this side of things.

Musselburgh 6 February 2011

This was the Scottish Cheltenham Trials Raceday at Musselburgh today and a 'first' for me on my list of national racecourses to visit.

It had been raining and blowing a gale for some days prior to the meeting and we were worried that it would get called off. Thank goodness, we actually had a reasonably dry day that cleared up as the afternoon went on.

The racing was spot on with Jim Goldie on top form in the first race bringing Wyse Hill Teabags (fancy calling a horse that !) into the winners enclosure.

The course is a small coastal course. So coastal that the sea is just over the boundary hill on the far side of the course. Musselburgh is a small town just outside Edinburgh and is the largest town in East Lothian, formerly know for its coal mining industry.

It has a mix of national hunt and flat racing. You should also check out there well constructed and attractive website

So what makes this course special ? Well, for a start, being a small course there is not a lot of space to develop. But Musselburgh Race Course have made a remarkable job with the space available. The course 'campus' is very tight but has an extraordinary variety of bars and places to eat. This variety has a quality hallmark about it and the catering managers have put a lot of thought into what they should be providing. Right down to a decent cafe serving tea and cakes. I found a bistro bar that was serving carvery meats that you could have on a platter or in a roll. Two thick slices of hot roast pork in a roll for £4.50 was just the lunch I was looking for, on the hoof, so to speak.

The tight fitting area behind the grandstand accommodates the weighing room and paddock. The latter is a modern construction which has very attractive architect designed stables. On this day we also had the added extra of Derek Thompson compering the whole meeting from the paddocks. This he did really well and it gave us an example of what good entertainment can be at a race meeting, instead of the common practice of putting on bands and singers after the meeting has finished. The highlight of his compering came after Tom Scudamore rode Hunterview to win the Scottish County Hurdle. His father, Peter Scudamore, was present and Thompson interviewed the two together. Peter Scudamore (Scu) is third behind McCoy and Dunwoody in the three all time leading jump jockeys. I was interested to see him walking over to Lucinda Russell's horse box in the paddocks where her horse Seeyaaj was being saddled. I had not realised that Scu is Lucinda's partner and assistant trainer.

Finally, the other selling point at this small course is that there is no separate club and grandstand, just one long stand (although the new Queens stand is the only offering for hospitality packages) and the limited option for staying indoors, other than to buy a drink and some food, means that punters stay outside for most of their visit.

Thanks again to my brother for supplying the tickets for us to attend this meeting.