10th October admission
charges:
Members’
day badge £22
Grandstand
& paddock £17
Course
enclosure £10 (no access to grandstand/winners’ enclosure)
(Special advance deal through sponsor Ludlow
Brewery - £15 including
drink)
Ticket choice
As you can see from the above there were four different ways of
buying your entrance ticket. Leaving aside the sponsor’s advance offer, I think
the course could easily reduce their pricing options from three to two. The
members’ badge at £22 strikes me as poor value. It doesn’t allow you entry to
the newest and arguably the best facility on the track, the annual members’
club room. Therefore, one is becoming a member for the day in name only. It’s
hard to justify paying the £5 premium over the £17 ticket. If it were up to me I’d
merge the £22/£17 offering, which would release at least five “segregating”
staff. I believe my last racecourse visit was much better value - the Galway
Festival - 15 euro to access all areas!
This was the opening day of the Ludlow 2018/19 season. We live
under two miles from the track but rather than drive I strolled down to the
railway station and hopped on the free shuttle bus. Incidentally if you travel
to Ludlow by rail be sure to check out the Ludlow Brewery housed in a converted
railway shed. Great building, even greater beer!
Betting strategy
The bright sunshine and unseasonably high temperatures resulted in good to firm
ground and just 41 runners in the seven races. Only one race facilitated first three each-way betting.
I’m not the greatest NH punter. My strategy was a large perm
Placepot to try and stay involved as long as possible. Despite the small fields
landing the bet would not be straight-forward. Two races (three/four runners)
were win only and three of the others were place 1,2. My perm was 432 bets!
I got off to a flyer in the first. A six-runner juvenile hurdle.
My selections finished 2nd and 3rd. The result was 50/1 beat 8/1 with the 1/3 shot out of it in third!
One of the course’s greatest assets is the tremendous views from
on top of the grandstands:
Roof top views (£22/£17 segregated naturally!)
My Placepot remained alive through the next two races. The
fourth race was the three-runner. I had two here leaving out the rag. No
problem.
The three-runner field passes the grandstand for the
first time. Brewery marquee in background.
The four-runner fifth race, in which I had covered the field, didn’t produce the
upset I was hoping for as the favourite (5/6) obliged thus ruining my strategy!
I had a runner placed in the sixth race but my share of the
£136.20 Placepot dividend sadly was not large enough to cover my stake.
I
skipped the final race and headed for the brewery marquee for a pint of Ludlow
Gold in the setting sun.
A pleasant day out and despite the proximity to home my next track visit
is likely to be back in Ireland.
October 2018