Dress code at the races

Golf has a dress code that i dont see being compramised to entice "young" people to the game.... if anything it is the rules and tradition that make golf a sport thats following continues to grow. (The old boys rule of not allowing female members at certain clubs is bull thou)

I agree with losing the "old boys club" attitude in racing, something which i have long hated, but come on there is a difference between casual and sloppy and i am not keen on the "whatever goes rule"

As a new youngster in the game, I went to the Durban July this year. I promise you, unless my own horse is running, I will not go there again! This has nothing to do with the race itself anymore, this is just one big party... As a "first timer", I bought expensive tickets over the internet for one of the places, to find out upon arrival, that I still had to buy tickets to get into Greyville and I only saw the racing on a big screen. For the amount of money spend, I could by myslef a big screen and stay at home!

Years ago I saw a picture of a winner that Craig Benton was involved with in the USA and there were "Owners" I think standing in the winning photo looking like they had just come off the beach and did not think much of it then but we are going the same way. I believe in the parade ring, Owners and Trainers, Member,boxes etc there should be a minimum standard of dress( smart casual at least). In your general area any half decent clothing can be worn. I don't think that that is asking too much. I saw a guy in the parade ring at Scottsville on Sunday who had torn jeans on that looked like he had had them on while working under his car!

Craig Eudey Wrote:

---

> Years ago I saw a picture of a winner that Craig
> Benton was involved with in the USA and there were
> "Owners" I think standing in the winning photo
> looking like they had just come off the beach and
> did not think much of it then but we are going the
> same way. I believe in the parade ring, Owners and
> Trainers, Member,boxes etc there should be a
> minimum standard of dress( smart casual at least).
> In your general area any half decent clothing can
> be worn. I don't think that that is asking too
> much. I saw a guy in the parade ring at
> Scottsville on Sunday who had torn jeans on that
> looked like he had had them on while working under
> his car!

errrr.... you buy those jeans new like like Craig...()

How can you tell the difference?Maybe someone wears them for 2 years and are then sold as "new"!

yip kind of like buying second hand clothes at new clothes prices....:S

If I was a mechanic I would not send a horse to Craig

Greggo..after all my training fees I pay I still have to wear my clothes I went to the beach with in the good days

I thought it was more a Bruce Springstein look rather than surfer?

Bob, maybe a selling point for me with mechanic's " send me a horse and I will buy you a pair of pants!"

As the clanner who started this thread I feel I should clarify a few things after having sat back and read all the comments, some of them bordering on the vitriolic...

-First off, I am not elitist nor was this post meant to be elitist itself. I am a forty something average fellow who has a job which entails me getting dirty, sometimes very dirty. As such I am not of the 'tie wearing' ilk. I wear ties only when there is a will involved or some nice wedding cake needs to be eaten. However, what I do believe in is that for society to operate at a near normal level we need a set of rules which should be adhered to eg road rules, rules on how to behave in public, etc. No society can function without rules !

-With regard to the actual reported event I for one believe that common sense should always prevail. Quite a few of my ( much ) older relatives were never ever seen in shorts, anywhere, and one of them always wore a suit and tie. Those days are gone and given the warm climate we experience in this province I think that wearing a suit in general is ludicrous.

-I am not an old person and fully believe that I should be allowed to wear a nice pair of jeans to the races. I know that certain jeans cost a lost more than my 'slacks'. To the argument that we have to attract the younger crowd I will say this. There are large parts of that crowd who dress much better than me. They spend a lot more on clothes than I do and look very cool.....HOWEVER....

-The young man who is the source of this thread did not fall into that category. He is not the first I or others have seen. There are much older men who rock up at the Members area looking like they don't care about a dress code. As mentionned in my first comment, why should I bother ? Why should I bother reading the dress code notice and adhering to it when others are clearly showing that same sign the middle finger.
The young man and all others like him are too blame, as are the useless people who are supposed to watch the Parade Ring entrance and the Member Lounge entrance and casually look the other way and fail to enforce a rule which is clearly written down in plain english.

Lastly....to all those who disagree with me please get back to me the day you have paid for your daughter's wedding and half her friends rock up in tatty Crocs, tatty shorts and a tracksuit top and she says 'daddy, getting dressed up for a wedding is so elitist and if I didn't let them dress like that they wouldn't have come'...your faces will make a good picture.

Any orderly society is built on rules, in this case a buttoned shirt or polo shirt and a decent pair of longs is not too much to ask for.

Thank-you and goodnight !

More " connections " in and around the Parade Ring these days { and nights } than Joe racing public, a more pressing issue should be how to reverse that ?:S