The Cheltenham Festival gives racing a captive audience - and we should look to Invades to show how you make the most of it

The on-course experience for racegoers will once again be placed under intense scrutiny next week at the Cheltenham Festival, when emotive issues such as the extortionate price of accommodation, the cost of a pint of Guinness and the ease with which people can enter and leave the course will be discussed at great length.

However, this year the subject of how British racing looks after its customer base appeared on the radar earlier than usual, with a social media debate sparked by the appearance of Dom Matcham, the chief executive of Invades, on Racing TV's Luck On Sunday last weekend.

Matcham's company arranges trips to the races for university students and has been responsible for getting thousands of students to racecourses. Yet while some racing fans acknowledge the obvious value in broadening the sport's appeal, it seems there are plenty who feel a large group of students – in many cases more concerned with the day out than the racing – is a bad thing.