Last week’s big freeze hit attendances badly, yet starting prices were still determined by a small handful of on-course punters
The attendance at Southwell on Tuesday should be a little better than last Friday’s crowd for a hastily-arranged “jumpers bumpers” meeting, but then it could hardly be much worse. Around 400 paying customers – the standard crowd for an all-weather Tuesday at the Nottinghamshire track – are expected to turn up, which is nearly 400 more than the 13 who paid through the gate four days ago.
When trainers, owners and stable staff are taken into account, the “crowd” at Southwell last Friday was probably around 100 in all, but most of those will have been at the track to work, rather than bet. So with only three bookmakers standing in Tattersalls, there were effectively only four paying punters for every bookie.
Related: Sceau Royal ruled out of Cheltenham Festival because of injury
Southwell
Continue reading...