My Day At The Races - 2015 MET

I know corporations like to spend millions on market research - so here's my feedback for free:

I went to the Met more for social than punting reasons. So my betting activity, although ultimately profitable, was not that big.

I placed two 'suicide' multiples (as posted on ABC) with my bookmaker before departing for the course mid morning.

Getting to Kenilworth on Met Day is no ride in the park no matter how early you go. My first impression was good as there was a large traffic control presence and we were mostly funnelled into the nearby military base and bussed the last distance to the course (R60 for park & bus ).

The course was well laid out and they have successfully eliminated historical logjams and bottlenecks by spreading the facilities over a wider area. As an aside - it is interesting to note the number of 'old faithful' corporates whose tents have disappeared over the years. The event certainly seems largely dominated by 'event managers'.

Security was relatively tight. There was a substantial police presence and a large outdoor 'command centre'. Unless you have the appropriate wristband it is impossible to simply drift around unrestricted as you would on a normal raceday.

We were seated in the RA room which appeared fully booked. Entrance to this facility was R795 for the day excluding drinks although sparkling wine was supplied on arrival. I'm not particularly discerning so I had no complaints about the food - which included sushi & oysters amongst other choices. Service was......average. I am prepared to cut them some slack in this area as it is a long and busy day although they do persist in providing a REALLY POOR winelist despite the Cape being the biggest & most varied wine producing area in the country.

The most tasteless part of the day came when they tried to levy a 10% service charge on the full admission price at the end of the day - ie R79,50 per person! It's the first time I have been asked to 'tip' for an entrance fee!

The crowd was big & varied and has recently got a lot closer to representing the actual racial mix in the country. Not unexpectedly there were a lot of VERY attractive and beautifully turned out women on show. Don't know about the men........

I remain underwhelmed by the programming with, in my opinion, far too many sprint races programmed. In fact I was totally unaware of the business in hand until the Investec Derby. I would wager that 30% of the crowd would admit to having been oblivious of the racing for the entire afternoon! But Ertejaal sure woke me up and looks a champion in the making.

My exotic crashed and burned with Arcetri Pink in the Majorca so that put paid, temporarily, to dreams of riches.

In the Met I came close to calling "Not a place, Futura" at the 400m mark but thankfully kept my mouth shut. Impressive turn of foot! My fancy finished second but as my exotic had already died it was pretty meaningless although I'm glad I didn't go down with the good ship Louis The King.

I love staying races (and the jumps) so it was probably inevitable that I would find the winner of the last. Gavin Lerena just rode the same race as he had on Ertejaal and the 'Cape Crawlers' crawled and waited in vain for him to fold. Clearly they had failed to register the name of the trainer - whose horses tend not to fold over ground. And all this for 25/1 in a race where the favourite has, bar on one occasion, never won.

There was a long tail to the day although not at the after party but rather in a succession of private boxes. The Man City/Chelsea draw merely added to the profitability. Those of you who did your money on the Met might pause to reflect on the following - You could get 18/10 Man City + The Draw after Chelsea scored. This gave you a 66% chance of striking a winning bet compared to 14/1 against in the Met had you simply backed one on the nose.

All in all it was a great day out. Does it significantly promote racing? Not sure. Will I go again? Definitely. Compared to my past memories of the event - which date back to 1973 - it is a slickly staged event with only a very few weak points.

Great news

Thanks Garrick

Garrick - genuine question - how did you manage to get a seat in the RA room - are you a member? If so, it may just entice me to take up membership again, if it includes preferential booking for the Met.

It was my second year in the RA's Paddock Room and in 25 years of attending the Met (only missed 1) I must agree by far the best value for money on Met day.
Besides "cluts" ending up with his main course on his lap and someones pretty daughter leaving her lunch on the stoop (shame hehehe, late afternoon ) the day was enjoyed by good friends and family.
MDK's two and Fatura really stood out, the rest of the races were very competitive and the margins were close which made for great racing. There was a fair mix of favourites and outsiders which kept most punters happy.
Frodo, I believe RA and WP members only.

neigh wrote: It was my second year in the RA's Paddock Room and in 25 years of attending the Met (only missed 1) I must agree by far the best value for money on Met day.
Besides "cluts" ending up with his main course on his lap and someones pretty daughter leaving her lunch on the stoop (shame hehehe, late afternoon ) the day was enjoyed by good friends and family.
MDK's two and Fatura really stood out, the rest of the races were very competitive and the margins were close which made for great racing. There was a fair mix of favourites and outsiders which kept most punters happy.
Frodo, I believe RA and WP members only.

Well that's fine (RA / WP members only) - so did you phone them up and enquired abt the tickets for Met day? Or did they send an invite?

Just curious to know how this works - surely if this is one of the perks of being an RA / WP member, they should be shouting it from the rooftops - I for one would certainly consider joining again if preferential booking for the major Cape events (could understand if Gold Circle events are excluded) is part of the 'privileges' of being an RA member?

Frodo - I tend to go racing 4 times a year (Ready-to-Run, Guineas, LQP & MET) as a 'partner' of an owner (who is also not an RA member). She just asks one of her many trainers if they have spare tickets and we buy ours from them. In this instance we were at Greg Ennion's table and had plenty of fun!

If we had known each other I could have arranged 2 for you very easily as we were actually two short at our table - so the trainer paid for 10 but only filled 8.

I am sure you are probably more skilled at social media than I am so maybe a few 'tweets' in 2016 and you'll be in pretty much any sector you care to be.

Invites are sent to you around the end of Oct, I book and pay the same day. Space is very limited and first come first served basis I think ? I am sure however that if there are 50 tables, they are allocated % to Phum RA, WP, Cape RA etc ? To be fair and then first come first served basis. I am guessing about the allocation of tables but there was a fair mix of people from all over SA in the room.

sorry to be the one to moan but i never got lunch and ended up with sunstroke. I did get to see the race up close though...
thought overall the day was well organised and happy there was a lot in the press and lots of pics before the day and after of horses.

Don wrote: sorry to be the one to moan but i never got lunch and ended up with sunstroke. I did get to see the race up close though...
thought overall the day was well organised and happy there was a lot in the press and lots of pics before the day and after of horses.

I'll take you to lunch anytime, Don. Just remember your sunscreen.

Garrick I saw you on the deck outside the RA room,you looked like you were enjoying yourself(good on you)we briefly owned horses in a syndicate together with the Snaiths.

Anyone have the official head count attending this year.....seemed less than in years gone by.