30 August 2019
Photos scoopdyga.com
This Summer, 19 racedays made the Barriere Meeting from July 27th to August 28th. Fans, tourists and locals gathered on the racecourse to either follow the races or experience the many activities offered to them: a pony racing championship, an equestrian authors signing session, the Longines Equestrian Normandy Challenge, the jockeys' challenge, the restaurants' day, etc.
Many newcomers discovered racing though this meeting, as usual, and it is the perfect event to get them to know more about our activity. 97% of the newcomers were satisfied with their first experience.
Their main purpose in going to the races was watching the races (66%) and look at horses (60%). Half the crowd wanted to experience the atmosphere of the Barriere Meeting.
Attendance and betting on the rise
242 races took place during the season, that is 7 more than last season. 2,715 starters participated, versus 2,700 in 2018.
Attendance is up 15.6 % with 65,961 visitors. After ten years going down, especially since 2014, the trend is now reversed.
As for the horseracing lot, they are more every year since 2016 ans this Summer again, badge holders were on the rise by 4,3 %, that is 18,030 entries.
On course betting also rised by 8.6 %, the handover totalling 3.23m€.
Food and beverage offer more diverse and popular with the crowd
Deauville – La Touques racecourse has expanded its catering range: The Black Type area with its food trucks, the famous Brok Café, the snacks, the panoramic restaurant La Toque and the Paddock Gardens. A picnic area was also very welcomed by the crowd.
The top offtrack events
The Deauville Barrière Meeting welcmed many offtrack events that proved to be very popular and helped the visitors to appreciate the whole experience:
- Pony racing. The French championship semifinals and the finals revealed three young riders, and one of them, Louis Bouton will run for France at Abu Dhabi in November.
- The Longines Equestrian Challenge Normandie. Equestrian riders and jockeys fromed teams and swapped places. The vice showjumping World champion Patrice Delaveau won his race at the course and jockey Théo Bachelot won the showjumping event at the Pôle International du Cheval. The winning team was formed by Théo Bachelot and eventer Astier Nicolas!
- A day dedicated to the re-training of retired racehorses. Demonstrations of dressage, showjumping and Horseball with former racehorses were organized by France Galop and its partner Au-delà Des Pistes. A good opportunity to promote the re-training of racehorses the association is working on every day.
- The jockeys championship closed on Grand Prix de Deauville Barriere day along with a draw to win a Renault Clio. At the end of a fierce struggle, Mickaël Barzalona won with 31 wins and 155 points, just ahead of Maxime Guyon with 138 points and Christophe Soumillon with 124 points. Four video episodes were broadcast throughout the Deauville Barrière Meeting on France Galop social networks. To date, there are 190,500 global views on the following 4 social networks: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
- The new Jockeys Challenge, opposing teams made of trotting and racing riders in both codes on the same day pleased the audience with trotting driver Adrien Lamy winning at deauville while Mickaël Barzalona won the trotting event in the evening on Cabourg racecourse.