New York Times Says "Visit Cartmel" - at Half Price

I’m a bit behind the times at the moment – behind the times with the New York Times to be specific. Apparently, three weeks ago, the esteemed publication (they’ve been awarded 112 Pulitzer Prizes, so they must be good) included Cartmel on a list of 52 places that you should visit in 2014. We’re number 44 – which places us behind The Vatican, Athens and Namibia, but ahead of Nepal and the Niagra Falls.  

I’m quite relieved that we’re ahead of Nepal as there’s a lot of competition between us – the Guild of Cartmel Traders and the Nepalese Ministry for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. Massive rivalry: think Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier, Coe vs Ovett. Don’t ever try putting us in the same room. The Nepalese Ministry recently announced that they were opening access to a further 165 peaks in the Himalayas in a desperate effort to trump the announcement of Cartmel Racecourse’s 2014 fixture list. Pathetic.  

Anyway, to get back to the point, if your budget doesn’t quite extend to visiting the North Coast of California, Cape Town or Christchurch (occupants of the first three slots on the New York Times bucket list), you could take advantage of our special “Year of the Horse” offer which starts this week. 

To celebrate the start of the Chinese New Year, we are offering 2,014 tickets for the races at HALF PRICE. Under the terms of the offer, an adult ticket for the Paddock Enclosure, on one of the Bank Holiday race-days, will cost just £11. A Course Enclosure ticket for a senior citizen at one of the midweek fixtures will cost just £5. And remember, you won’t need to buy any tickets for the kids because accompanied children aged 16 or younger are admitted to the races free of charge. 

The offer is limited to a pair of tickets per household and only applies to tickets which are bought on-line (click on tickets above). So hurry, because when they’re gone, they’re gone. Of course we’ll have some sensibly priced tickets available to purchase at a later date – but we won’t be offering any more at half price. 

Musselburgh doesn’t appear on the New York Times list, which seems a bit harsh to me. Personally, I’d have put Musselburgh ahead of Nepal – but I suppose Scotland is at number 16 and Musselburgh is part of Scotland. Musselburgh arguably stages the most interesting racing of the weekend, with at least three previous Cheltenham Festival winners entered– although their fixture falls on Sunday as opposed to Sandown, Ffos Las and Wetherby who all might race on Saturday if the ground isn’t too heavy.  

If they do race at Sandown, I think Melodic Rendezvouz will win the Contenders Hurdle, while Quel Elite should go close at Wetherby. However, the tip (at big odds) is for Musselburgh, where I think that Dumbarton can improve on his handicap mark in the Scottish County Hurdle.


      P.S. If you enjoy this blog, please share it with others - tweet it or add it to facebook using the buttons below, or copy the url-address above and e-mail it to your friends. If you work for a major media organisation like the New York Times, The Daily Telegraph or News International (yes you're all on the list - you know who you are) don't hesitate to send your readers to Cartmel. We welcome all well behaved racegoers, children and dogs - as long as they are kept on leads (the dogs not the children).