Towcester
It is difficult to miss the man in charge at the race night in Towcester. Lord Hesketh is very tall and built proportionately. Like most people who attend race night events, he wears Ray-Bans and a spectacular tweed jacket, and is shod in smart loafers and shocking lime-green socks. When he walks through the concourses the crowd parts in front of him and racegoers nudge each other and point. All the glances in his direction are friendly, and well they might be. More than 6000 spectators attended the most recent meeting, at the race night in Northamptonshire, and not one of them paid a penny in admission charges. Towcester's free entry campaign will be maintained throughout the National Hunt season, but it must not be misconstrued as aristocratic largesse. Nor is it, as other racecourse owners have suggested, a gimmick. It is part of a plan to revolutionise the way that this racecourse treats race night customers. Watching the teeming crowds from the balcony of his splendid private box, Lord Hesketh believes that other race night venues throughout the country are going to have to take notice of what he is doing. Free entry means that he needs fewer staff. He doesn't have people tearing race night tickets, and doesn't have to have security men for the gate receipts. It certainly makes it easier to run a race night. Before a policy of free admission was implemented, it was quite common for spectators to hop over the fence without paying. [...]