Royal Ascot 22/6/24 - The Sun Always Shines On TV

A few musings on the week before we hit the main betting bit;

Crowds were up at Ascot overall but down fairly significantly on The Windsor Enclosure so please read this in the context of Windsor Enclosure only. I could sit here and have a whinge about what were specifically bookmaker issues but we are a tiny number compared to the overall crowd and you don't want to read about that anyway I would imagine. So I'm going to have a quick look at "Customer Experience" in The Windsor Enclosure as, overall, happy customers equals repeat customers equals more customers equals more betting so we will all benefit from it.

I thought Ascot did a fair bit right to improve customer experience. The crowd capacity has been reduced to allow more elbow room and, even on the sellout Saturday, it certainly felt like that. There appeared to be no significant queues for bars or toilets either.

Given the crowd, the size of the enclosure and the size of the picnic areas I thought the housekeeping team did a spectacular job. Barely a moment passed from a piece of litter being dropped to someone swooping in an picking it up. Wizardry.

This will be controversial amongst my bookmaking fraternity but I felt that having the band on the lawns was a positive step. This enclosure attracts a much younger demographic than any other meeting we attend and, like it or not, things like live music are a big attraction for that demographic. Accepting that there will be live music somewhere, I, personally, would rather it be in an area which would attract people to the trackside rather than round the back and out of sight. As I say, I know many who will disagree. The music between races finishing as the horses were making their way to the stalls was, I felt, a little late though and probably should've stopped 5 minutes earlier. Either way it felt like more racegoers were in the "right" area to see the racing rather than "round the back" where they wouldn't see a horse all day.

Having said all that there was an own goal so mind numbingly spectacular that even own goal king Jamie Carragher would surely have looked on in amazement. The Windsor Enclosure spreads over a pretty long stretch of ground trackside and there was only one big screen that punters on the lawns could see (opposite The Five Shillings Lawn at the winning post end of the enclosure). This meant that at least 50% of folk on the lawns simply could not see the racing. Having put in all that work regarding crowd flow and customer experience to, effectively, not show your product to half of your customers was incredible. Unfortunately we experienced a lot of complaints from customers, many of whom did not even know the result of the race. The constant question "Where can we watch the racing?" when standing next to the actual racetrack is not something that should happen.

It is, in my opinion, essential for this younger demographic, who are the future of the race going, to be engaged with the event itself. There is nothing like the thrill of watching, and cheering your horse home, and it is those moments which will bring those customers back for more. We see this constantly at student nights which, we believe, have been an excellent innovation, and the ability for all customers on the lawns to share this experience is vital for customer retention and satisfaction which will lead to repeat custom and recommendation. I think this is the 3rd year the screen has been absent and I think is a major contributory factor to the drop in attendance in this area. Furthermore, with my bookmaker head on, you could see that turnover dropped in these areas as the day went on when it would normally increase, but who is going to have a bet on an event they can't watch? I don't want to sound overly negative as there were a lot of good things but happy customers are returning customers and I desperately hope this is sorted out for next year.

And to end on a positive I have just seen the pricing for 2025 and the Windsor Enclosure appears to be priced as a "Silver Ring" again which is fantastic news. In the current cost of living crisis a reduction in price and a significantly cheaper option compared to the other enclosures is very welcome and will, hopefully, drive business up again.

1) The favourite, Bedtime Story, won easily and, though we had a couple of worse results in the book we weren't off to a start and the two worst place results did little to improve our mood. Too many Brians in the ring, and not enough Dukes hailing from Monroth.

2) We had 2 pitches there and I was working with Simon, using his joint (stand). Despite that it got a good kicking as Isle of Jura was the worst result in the win and place market. I can only apologise, though my ankle was in a worse way than the metal.

3) And then the tide turned. Super jackpot territory on Khaadem and the best place result of the week meant we catapulted forward in spectacular fashion. Simon got a kiss on his bald bonce though I think he'd have preferred his joint got kicked again.

4) Like buses (but not Ascot buses as they only serve Pimms) you wait 5 hours, for it was 5 hours since we'd pitched in, and then 2 come at once. We took enough on River Tiber to mean that Haatem was another jackpot, places were a dream again. Simon covered his head for fear of a repeat.

5) Unequal Love was, I thought, likely to be well bet based on the name but it was another surprisingly pleasant winner and, again, we steered the vagaries of the place market. Not jackpot but still welcome.

6) Couldn't keep it going though. A jolly combined with a gospel church outing who'd been betting with us all day and, who knows, a group of Argentinians (or Scots) ensured Hand of God left us feeling more Shilton than Maradona.

7) All was forgiven in the last though as, of the opening joint favourites, we laid Dawn Rising and largely avoided Uxmal which shortened and gave us a lovely end to a day which hadn't looked too promising just a couple of hours earlier. Top 3 placing meant we avoided the nastiness in the each way market as well and supplements were duly added.

All in all an outstanding Friday and Saturday meant we had a very good Ascot in the face of falling crowds (in our enclosure at least)

I'd like to say "Hexham next" but I'm catching up on my blogs so I'll just say "Hexham blog" next and Newcastle for our next outing. Until then...