Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 25, 1993 TAG: 9306250069
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Grand Prix of Roanoke finally gets its day in the sun when it closes the state's best horse show Sunday afternoon at the Salem Civic Center. Thankfully, there will be no more midnight finishes for the show's most attractive event.
By moving the Grand Prix from its late Saturday night finish, the show's sponsors committed to another day of volunteer work, with hopes of more profits for the charities and scholarships they support. Unless ticket sales leap significantly, however, it isn't going to happen.
As of Thursday, only half of the 4,042-seat house had been sold. While it's true Pegasus and four-time Roanoke GP riding champ Rodney Jenkins are retired, the Prix still should be an attraction. After all, a purse of $125,000, the richest in North America, will have some very talented horses and riders jumping for more than joy and a first prize of $37,500.
One notion on why the Grand Prix isn't the public attraction it could - or should - be is its history. Another is the show's advertising campaign, which hardly has emphasized the Grand Prix's move to a 2 p.m. start.
Many prospective ticket-buyers don't know it has been moved to Sunday. In the past, when the Prix wrapped up a too-long Saturday night dominated by saddlebred championships, there was little question some members of the horsey set weren't enthralled about sitting through a long evening.
There also seems to be an assumption that the Grand Prix is a tough ticket. Well, it was, but last year was the first in three that the show finale didn't sell out. A sellout isn't likely this year, either, with the Grand Prix being a separate admission of $15 for a box seat or $12 reserved.
"There's been so much hype about how successful the Grand Prix has been, and once an event is labeled with that `sold-out' tag, it's hard to convince people any tickets are available, much less good seats," said Salem Civic Center manager Carey Harveycutter. "In both cases, that's not true now."
Now, the public has more access to the Grand Prix than in the past, because many of the saddlebred owners and aficionados will be heading out of town Sunday morning. June Camper, longtime co-chair of the show, said once potential Prix spectators learn of the Sunday session, she hopes more out-of-towners will make a day trip to Salem to see the jumping event that has been popularized by Olympic competition.
Show manager Bill Munford said the Grand Prix competition should be helped by the switch. Course designer Fuzzy Mayo won't have to rush his crew through course setup while a crowd anxiously awaits. Munford said Prix jumpers are more accustomed to performing during the day, and they won't have to work in the schooling ring in the dark.
"If we have the arena about three-fourths filled Sunday, we'll be very happy," Camper said. "We didn't go into this move figuring we'd sell out the Grand Prix the first year."
Empty seats won't make it any less of an event. The Grand Prix of Roanoke, the most lucrative sports show in Roanoke Valley history, finally has arrived where it belongs.
by CNB