Luke Cann speaks with The Standard about the 2024 May Races

Watch Luke Cann speaks with The Standard about the 2024 May Races - The Standard on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00 Hi there, it's Rachel Woolahan on day two of the Bay Racing Conference.

00:04 I'm here with the Wanda Racing Club CEO, Luke Cairn.

00:07 Now Luke, tell me about yesterday, it was a bumper day.

00:09 Really good day yesterday. So we had about 7,500 people on course yesterday,

00:13 which was up slightly from last year. Very, very pleasing.

00:17 And today's looking exactly the same.

00:19 Haven't got the official numbers yet, but we think it might sort of be edging up toward that 8,000.

00:23 Brilliant, that's absolutely fantastic.

00:25 And I know, you know, we can see on course today there is plenty of colour.

00:28 Even though it has traditionally been called Men's Day, we had Ladies' Day yesterday,

00:32 there's still lots of beautifully dressed women.

00:34 Absolutely, yeah. Sort of that was the trend yesterday too, wasn't it?

00:37 There was lots of people around and it wasn't particularly just one gender or one age group,

00:41 and that's what we've loved about the last couple of days.

00:44 It's been all sorts here and we're hoping tomorrow's going to be the same.

00:47 So more sunny weather on the way tomorrow and we're hoping the day's going to be a bumper.

00:52 Excellent. Now tell me about the preparations.

00:54 I know hundreds of hours of work go into it and tomorrow is obviously the big day.

00:57 All going well?

00:58 All going really well. We've had great staff levels this year.

01:02 So I think the biggest challenge always is to get that sort of extra bar staff,

01:06 the extra event staff and the track team obviously as well at this time as well.

01:10 We've done really well in those terms, so that takes the pressure off the team a lot.

01:15 So everything's looking really good for a big day tomorrow that we can sort of cater for everyone who gets here.

01:20 Brilliant. Thank you so much. Now just one final question.

01:22 Do you have a tip for tomorrow's Grand Annual?

01:25 Not for the Grand Annual, but I've got a little share in a horse tomorrow.

01:28 So just have a look for Lindsay Smith-Blake tomorrow.

01:32 So Queen Eyre is the horse's name. So we're hoping she goes well.

01:35 Brilliant. Thank you so much.

01:36 No worries.

01:37 Thank you.

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