Vodacom Durban July Hospitality

Hi Clanners,

Just seeking some info please. I am an RA member, and my Dad and I want to go to the VDJ this year.

a) Will my badges get us in without charge, or will I still need to pay at the gate?
b) I want to book seats for us for the day, where meals, drinks etc are provided. Perhaps a tent of some sort?

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated - thank you friends.

Greg

Greg, im sure there was a july hospitality thread opened, do a search.

Thanks Bud - just did a search. Its cool - I aint paying R7grand for 2 people. Lol! Madness!

He budddy i will ask Larry about the badges

I asked Gill about Gold Circle stuff a while back she said they are sold out but she said the below also

"One Stop as they are grandstand side and you have views of the track and parade ring."

From Larry

RA members are given entrance tickets for free entrance RA badges are not recognized on July day for the bookings of tents and facilities members need to make their own bookings for the free entrance tickets will be on first come basis we are also only given 350 tickets for members when you book in any facility it includes entrance tickets gold circle can advise you what facilities are available and at what price

Press I enquired the other day at club tab its R1700 includes lite breakfast lunch and supper thats exclusive of entrance fee for me its still a bit much

Why should the free entrance tickets be on a 'first come first serve' basis (and how many are available?) - I would have thought that ALL RA members (limited to say 5 tickets per member) should qualify for entrance tickets (not talking about seats in one of the facilities) - if I was forking out the RA membership, I would fee slightly aggrieved if told 'sorry, no more left' :S

Frodo as above , looks like they are only given 350 tickets

Got an email from gold circle offering a box in members level. r30k for the box. Ridiculous how extreme the pricing has become. Hardly any racing fans in attendance.

Frodo, even GC members only get a ticket for themselves and a partner into the course. I think the safety limit set by the council was around 50000 people last year. They could sell far more tickets if allowed to. Many people are turned away or just don't go as they cannot get tickets. All venues and boxes will be sold out so they can afford to charge what they want.

Craig Eudey Wrote:

---

> Frodo, even GC members only get a ticket for
> themselves and a partner into the course. I think
> the safety limit set by the council was around
> 50000 people last year. They could sell far more
> tickets if allowed to. Many people are turned away
> or just don't go as they cannot get tickets. All
> venues and boxes will be sold out so they can
> afford to charge what they want.


Point taken - but I would argue that some of those 50,000 'seats' should be set aside for the people who support racing by 'investing' in horses (i.e. RA members - or the Gold Circle equivalent) - let's say as an example 25% of the tickets - 10% to the RA and 15% to the 'Gold Circle owners and trainers). Not sure of the current numbers, but 5,000 tickets for RA members should be more or less 5 tickets per member. Also a percentage should be set aside (at a discount) for the 'punter on the street' - those guys who support the industry year in and year out by their gambling rands.

But no, I suppose the emphasis as always is to make as much money as possible, so GC would rather have as many as possible 'paying customers' - 45,000 upwards of 'once a year racegoers' :S

Frodo, we have this argument every year where our best members facility has been given over to a corporate company at the members expense. Big money for GC but I gather they were told that if they were not given that facility on July day the company would withdraw their race sponsorships. How true that is I am not sure yet but GC has to make money out of the day to help with costs for the rest of the year. In GC,s defence, there are members that only pop out the woodwork on July day and the rest of the year do not use the facilities or even come racing. The cost is so low that they can afford to do that. 2 tickets plus a parking ticket are handed out per member.