Horse Racing in Chester- Constructive critisism?

Horse Racing

A million ways to lose your shirt, and one way
to win it back.

Chester is famous for its race course- the
Rodee, one of the few courses in England where the horses race anti-clockwise.

Racing is the sport of Kings, but as any
Chester publican will tell you, it is increasingly the pastime of corporate
entertainment- you can hear the director saying "lets dress the staff up in ill
fitting suits, fill them with beer, take them to the races then release them to
cause mayhem in Chester"

It is a shame that races attract so many people
who are more interested in altering their state of reality than they are in the
horses- I'm not against a surfeit of beer from time to time, but you wouldn't
plan a night at the theatre with the premise "lets see how pissed we can get"

Getting on to the 'open course' at Chester used
to cost £2.00- now its a staggering Eight Quid. Being quite blunt, you can get a
better view from the road and get to pet the police horses. For your 8 quid you
can get to place a bet, buy beer and overpriced food. You cant see the finish,
and most of the rails near the finish have now been obscured by some rather
tacky frilly white and yellow marquees which you can hire for your corporate
beano. In the old days of betting tax, you could save your admission money even
placing modest bets- and lets face it if you go to the races you've got to have
a bet- even if its only a quid each way. These days you can bet on your mobile,
so you don't have to use the on-course bookies. In short for a 400% price hike
you now get less than you did 5 years ago- come on Chester Race Course-- stop
being greedy.

Speaking of betting, a few of my friends have
taken to using Exchange betting as opposed to the traditional bookies. The idea
of an exchange is that you can 'lay' bets as well as place them and you can
choose your odds- click on the 'Betfair' advert for more details