PARIS, France (AFP) — The packed stands at Epsom and Royal Ascot are just the images a sport wants beamed worldwide, but away from the prestigious meetings racing faces a challenging time in attracting new spectators.

Worryingly for the “Sport of Kings”, the crown seemed to have lost a bit of its lustre with disappointing crowds for both the York and Chester festivals in May with high-quality racing spread over several days.

At Chester, attendance over the four days was 35,000, down 35 per cent on the 53, 500 that were at the corresponding fixture in 2019.

Ordinary midweek meetings are suffering too as racing, like other sports and entertainment venues, battles to attract footfall, with the public ever more wary of spending money due to a cost of living crisis.

Rod Street, CEO of Great British Racing (GBR), which is the sport’s central promotional and marketing body tasked with increasing engagement with and participation in horse racing, told AFP the decline in attendance is a concern.

“The cost-of-living crisis is certainly a factor,” he said.

“Also following two years of extended lockdown periods (due to COVID-19), every sporting, leisure, and entertainment offering is competing at once.

“We also believe that, after two years, people have got out of the habit.

“As ever, it is rarely one factor that affects the trend but rather several.”

“Our consumer research informs us that the 25-34-year-old market demonstrates the best opportunity for growth as this demographic consistently expresses an appetite to consider racegoing.

“Consideration is the stage that follows awareness and precedes purchase, so this insight is important.

“We will target broader ethnic groups in this age category that better represent society, making our catchment as wide as possible.”

William Woodhams, CEO of Fitzdares bookmakers, says much needs to be done to make going racing more attractive to the public.

“It does feel lacklustre at the moment,” he told AFP.

“Apart from key meetings, we don’t seem to be getting the right cross section of the public.

“The sport is entertainment enough and we just need to make the whole experience better.”

“People under 30 should be paying £20 (US$24) for entry, a free bet, and a drink.”

Entry fees vary — the vast majority of racecourses offer free entry to Under-18s — but extras quickly add to the costs.

Goodwood, for example, is £12-26 for entry, but a bottle of water is £2.50, the cheapest pint is £6, and a hamburger £9 as cited by the Racing Post.