Goodwood MD Adam Waterworth reviews the season of flat racing do far at Goodwood - during the Augustbank holiday three-day festival
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00:00 Welcome to Goodwood. We're at the August Bank Holiday Festival and I'm with Adam Waterworth MD.
00:05 Adam, August Bank Holiday means we're about three quarters of the way through the season,
00:09 which doesn't seem possible, but here we are.
00:12 Season so far, your verdict? A good one for Goodwood?
00:17 I mean in the round, yes.
00:19 The start of the season was, you know, in May we were blessed with some good weather,
00:25 we had some great crowds and some really good racing.
00:29 Glorious this year was, you know, challenging.
00:33 I mean, the positives, the racing was superb, Paddington was an amazing winner of the Sussex.
00:38 And I think actually all the May races, I think we got really good winners and really good stories.
00:45 Quickthorn was an odd, if you like, running of the Goodwood group.
00:48 I think it was a great story and a great ride from Tom.
00:51 But obviously, you can't think about this year's Glorious without mentioning the weather.
00:57 And Wednesday was, you know, Wednesday was a bad enough day to have Saturday follow on.
01:03 Whereas, you know, we got to the Stewart's Cup, but then couldn't carry on because of the waterlogging.
01:10 You know, I've never seen rain like that, to be honest.
01:12 So it was a challenging one, but I think on the whole, we look back at it,
01:16 the crowd numbers actually held up remarkably well.
01:19 The crowd numbers have been good all year.
01:21 So as you say, we've got three quarters of the way through.
01:24 We're looking forward to a good August bank holiday and then a strong end to the season.
01:29 I was going to ask about crowd numbers because it's quite well chronicled that
01:32 racing and the leisure industry generally has found it hard these last couple of years.
01:38 People have got less money to spend, but you've actually held up quite well and you've sort of bucked the trend a little bit.
01:43 We have bucked that trend a bit.
01:44 I mean, it is, you know, it is difficult.
01:49 We understand why it's difficult.
01:51 And we're in the leisure business and people have to decide what they want to spend their money on.
01:56 Luckily, we've got a very loyal crowd here.
01:59 And things like Glorious, you know, there's nothing quite like it, is there?
02:03 And thankfully, our customers obviously think the same way.
02:06 It's harder than it's ever been, almost, in terms of, you know, in terms of sort of putting these events on.
02:16 But thankfully, we've been rewarded by loyal crowds, good crowds and sort of long may that continue.
02:22 Away from Glorious, you've had some good race days earlier in the season.
02:26 Standout ones for you and maybe standout races or even horses?
02:30 I think Gregory winning in May, since has gone on to run some really...
02:35 He ran at York actually this week.
02:39 You know, I think he could be a sort of another ledger winner that comes out of that race at Goodwood, which is always great to see.
02:46 I think we've had some... I think those May races sort of did what they're meant to do.
02:53 You know, they provided some pointers for later on in the season.
02:55 A lot of those horses have gone on to run well.
02:58 The two-year-old Richmond Stakes winner this year at Glorious has gone on to win a Group One, which is all you can hope for.
03:04 So I think the races on the whole have been up to scratch.
03:07 Well, probably better than that, actually, all year.
03:11 And as I said earlier, I think the May races this year felt a really, really positive start to the season.
03:17 So going into Glorious, we were all, you know, we were in a really good place and we were looking at a really strong year.
03:23 It was just a shame, you know, what happened on Saturday happened.
03:27 Yeah. Between May and Glorious, we obviously had the three Friday nights.
03:31 Yep.
03:32 Live to tell the tale from those again.
03:34 I mean, they were sold very well, didn't they?
03:36 Yeah, they were great.
03:38 You know, I love the three Friday nights, I think, especially that third one where, you know,
03:43 most of the sort of A-level students, if you like, from around the South Coast celebrate the end of the A-levels.
03:49 And I think that's great for us to be that, you know, that place where that generation choose to sort of celebrate such a, you know, that moment, if you like.
03:59 And so, yeah, they were three great evenings, as they always are.
04:05 And the last one, especially, we sort of left June on a bit of a high, to be honest.
04:10 And in June, the weather was amazing.
04:12 Yes.
04:12 You know, we forget that June, we did have a summer, it just came in June.
04:15 Yeah, it came early.
04:16 July, we had, what, 93 millimetres of rain in a month where we, and as for speed, of course, we lost the Saturday for the first time ever.
04:24 So the weather hasn't really been our friend since the end of June.
04:27 But as I say, sun is shining in August and hopefully we'll finish the season strongly.
04:32 And you've got a few meetings after the Bank Holiday, you know, so a couple in September and the season finale.
04:37 So we also have two really good, interesting midweek dates in September.
04:43 And then we finish with that Sunday in October, which, I mean, actually, bizarrely, the Sunday in October, the weather is normally fantastic.
04:50 It's really clear.
04:51 I mean, the view is spectacular in October, or it normally is.
04:57 And let's hope this year's the same.
04:59 And the team have worked hard all year to make things happen.
05:01 I think the ground staff especially, well, actually, the operation teams and the grounds teams, that sort of weather that we had over Glorious is as tough as it gets.
05:12 I think the ground staff have done remarkably.
05:14 I thought going into Glorious, I've never seen the track look better.
05:17 And I think that's one of the reasons it's bounced back so well, because to have taken such a hammering in July and still be so good for this meeting a few weeks later, I think is testament to them.
05:26 And I think the Ops team, you know, a meeting like we had in July is really tough.
05:32 But I thought they did a great job and they've come out of it sort of bouncing and straight into this one.
05:38 So, no, I couldn't be more sort of, I couldn't be prouder of them.
05:42 Good luck for the rest of the season.
05:44 And before we know it, we'll be talking about 2024 and we'll all be...
05:47 We will. Don't. We're all getting old, Steve. We're all getting old.
05:50 Thanks for your time.