How to stop falling attendances? Focus on the fans here, not the ones who aren't

It would have been much less enjoyable to go racing 30 years ago. Little heed was paid to the paying punter back then. Entry costs were probably more expensive in real terms, the food was one-dimensional and barely palatable, while coffee was served in polystyrene cups from mobile caravans dotted around the course.

The whole experience has moved on since then. Yet while you might have expected racecourse attendances to rise in consequence, they are going the wrong way. With other sporting venues also raising their game to satisfy a more discerning audience, the base camp for watching sport has been pitched further up the mountain.

Within this context came the revelation last week that racecourse attendance fell for the fourth consecutive year. Myriad reasons have been advanced, most of them for the umpteenth time – in particular the one about the importance of attracting the young.