Connie’s fortnightly column on student life, published on Fridays…
The student race day is hyped up to be one of the best days out at university, but when a group of cricket boys started chanting ‘shag her rotten’ ten minutes into the bus ride to Doncaster, I began to think the day might not be all it’s cracked up to be. My friends, who unlike me had successfully stomached a bottle of Echo Falls at 9am, took no notice. It became clear that I needed to be more intoxicated if I wanted to block out the crowd. This wouldn’t have been an issue if the drinks in the stadium didn’t cost a small mortgage, on top of the £40 I’d already shelled out on this event.
Don’t get me wrong, I returned home from the races in high spirits after having a great day with my friends. Part of the fun was seeing everyone all dressed up in their Sunday bests as I wont deny, there is something quite comical about seeing students who normally rock indie looks all poshed up in top hats. The same old group nights out to West Street can get repetitive, so a change of scenery was refreshing and it certainly spiced things up. However, every positive emotion I associated with the outing had nothing to do with the Races as an event itself, and everything to do with the company I was with.
When it came to watching the actual races, I struggled to see the appeal of the sport. There is an air of prestige around horse racing and it’s marketed as a glamorous event. But the unethical reality struck me as I watched the Jockey bring down the whip. Why do we still associate it with sophistication and allure when in reality its practices are uncivilised and almost barbaric? Some googling in the days after revealed truly shocking statistics: 214 race horses were killed in 2024 – a 21.6% from the previous year. It’s 2025 – why are we still exploiting animals for our own entertainment? I had been complicit in this cruelty. It got me thinking, how willing are we to turn a blind-eye to mistreatment and set aside our morals for the sake of booze induced fun?
After the beer goggles are on, the betting odds suddenly seem slanted in your favour and I watched many of my friends apple-pay away a considerable chunk of their weekly budget within a matter of minutes. Given that BBC surveys have revealed how gambling addictions amongst young people are on the rise, it seems exploitative that companies such as Invades directly target students to attend events where they are then enticed to participate in gambling- a highly addictive activity. Surely we shouldn’t be promoting or normalising any type of addiction. In many ways, I found the race day to be a microcosm of the broader pressures of University Culture- you need to seek short term thrills because you only live once! If the event was as enjoyable as it’s said to be, why do the majority of attendees feel the need to make themselves as ‘out of it’ as possible? You can’t truly call something fun if it’s alcohol dependent.
So, would I recommend the races to a friend? While I wouldn’t endorse the event with any particular enthusiasm, I do think most students would probably walk away from it having had a good time. But they’d likely leave with the general consensus that they’d spent too much money and could have had just as good a time pretty much anywhere else. A group trip to the Peak District for a walk followed by a few pints in an idyllic country pub would be equally – if not more – fun and for a fraction of the price.
Image Credits: Unsplash
