Ascot Racecourse | Horse Racing Free Tips

Ascot and RaceTech Agree to Contract Extension and Ascot World Feed

A bespoke Ascot world feed has been added to a new two-year agreement extension between Ascot Racecourse and RaceTech. The agreement covers a full range of high grade technical and broadcast services , such as photo finishes, across all 26 racedays in the calendar, including Royal Ascot in June. There will also be live tracking and timing graphics on Ascot TV. The world feed, which will be available on all five days of Royal Ascot, QIPCO King George Diamond Day and QIPCO British Champions Day, will be distributed to various international broadcast companies, most notably the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

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Ascot to Reduce Attendance at Royal Meeting

Crowd capacity numbers will be reduced at Royal Ascot beginning in 2022, Ascot Racecourse announced on Thursday. After feedback from racegoers attending the smaller scale Royal Ascot in 2021, attendance caps will be instated across the Royal Enclosure, Queen Anne Enclosure, and Windsor Enclosure for the five-day meeting from June 14-18, 2022.

In addition to reducing capacity in the Royal Enclosure by 1,000 guests (-7%) to 12,500, a new area for circulation has been added-the Royal Enclosure Gardens. The Queen Anne and Windsor Enclosures have been reduced by 4,150 (20%) to 16,600and 2,000 (12%) to 15,000 attendees, respectively and new facilities will be introduced. The Village Enclosure, located on the Heath proper in the middle of the course, will be in operation for the first time since the 2019 pre-pandemic meeting and its capacity is 6,500. Royal Ascot was held behind closed doors in 2020 and with reduced attendance last year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Felicity Barnard, Commercial Director at Ascot, said, “We are really pleased to be making these customer-focused changes to Royal Ascot this summer. They will provide an improved experience for all our racegoers across the three main enclosures, ensuring a more enjoyable atmosphere and better access to facilities throughout the site.

“A key message in the feedback from the 2021 Royal Meeting, when attendance was limited to 12,000 per day as part of the Government's Events Research Programme, was that people really appreciated the benefit of additional space.

“This set us on a journey to look at how we could reduce density to improve comfort across the site going forward in a 'normal' scenario. Incorporating feedback from previous years and other racedays, it became clear to us that we needed to make a fundamental change in terms of the capacities across the site.

“This was especially the case in our premier public area–the Queen Anne Enclosure–and reducing the number of people there significantly and investing in improved facilities will deliver a much better environment for people to enjoy the world-class racing on show.

“It is crucial that we protect the unique and very special sense of occasion that people feel when they come to Royal Ascot and we hope that these changes will provide an enhanced experience for all our racegoers.

“Ticket sales have been strong since launch last summer and they will clearly be in higher demand as a result of these changes at what will be a special Royal Meeting in the Platinum Jubilee year.”

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Currie Named Ascot Chief Executive

Vivien Currie, who has been chief executive of Hamilton Park Racecourse since 2008, will success Guy Henderson as chief executive of Ascot Racecourse following next year's Royal Ascot meeting.

Currie led the development of a commercial focus at Hamilton, which included improving the racecourse experience for participants and fans and the building of an award-winning hotel on course. Currie, who is trained as a chartered accountant and spent time with Ernst & Young and Damovo, was also previously chief executive of Livingston FC.

Sir Francis Brooke Bt., The Queen's representative and chairman at Ascot, said, “Vivien's career is a compelling combination of strategic, commercial and racecourse management experience. This made her the outstanding candidate for this role, in what was a thorough and wide-ranging search conducted with the help of Spencer Stuart. She is very familiar with the structure of the British racing industry both from the perspective of Hamilton Park and her terms on both the BHA and RCA boards. She has wide-ranging interests in sport and business and has also been a long term and active supporter of Marie Curie Cancer Care. The whole Board is much looking forward to welcoming her to Ascot.

“Vivien will join as CEO designate in April and work alongside Guy in the lead up to the delivery of Royal Ascot in the Platinum Jubilee Year. On 30th June she will take over as CEO when Guy retires at the end of what has been an outstanding tenure.”

Currie added, “I am delighted to have been chosen as the next chief executive of Ascot Racecourse and to be joining the team for what will be a very exciting year ahead. This role is a culmination of all the experiences I have had in my professional career to date and I am looking forward enormously to working with Guy in the build up to Royal Ascot in June.”

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Ascot To Offer Record Prize Money In 2022

Ascot Racecourse today announces record prize money of £15.64 million (about US$17.64 million) in 2022 with increases across the Flat and Jumps programs.

This represents an increase of nearly £2 million (US$2.26 million) on 2019 values (from £13.67m, US$15.42m), or 14.4 percent, being the last year when planned prize money was distributed before the pandemic impacted 2020. These figures exclude the industry partnership QIPCO British Champions Day.

Royal Ascot (June 14 – 18, 2022) will be worth £8,652,500 (US$9.76m), an increase of £1,322,500 (US$1.49m) (18 percent) on 2019 values which totaled £7,330,000 (US$8.27m).

Highlights include:

– The Royal Ascot Tuesday card, featuring three Group One races, becomes Royal Ascot's first £2 million (US$2.26m) day.

– The Prince of Wales's Stakes and the Platinum (formerly Diamond) Jubilee Stakes will become the first races at Royal Ascot to be run with a total prize fund of £1 million (US$1.13m).

– No race at Royal Ascot will be run for less than £100,000 (US$112,800).

Outside Royal Ascot:

– The King George VI & Queen Elizabeth QIPCO Stakes returns to its pre-pandemic value of £1.25 million (US$1.41m).

– A record £550,000 (US$620,380) will be offered at the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup. The program will increase to eight races (from six) with 12 runners in each race (from 10). Details of the team format will follow in 2022.

– All Flat races will be worth at least £15,000 (US$16,920) and all Jumps races will be worth at least £10,000 (US$11,280) (excluding three National Hunt Flat races and one Hunters' Chase at £5,000, US$5,640).

– There will be additional £25,000 (US$28,200) stable prizes offered on both QIPCO King George Diamond Day (July 23, 2022) and Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Day (Aug. 6, 2022). These will be awarded £20,000 (US$22,560) to the trainers and £5,000 (US$5,640) to stable staff across the top three performing yards based on points achieved for first to fifth placings.

– All plans remain subject to change depending on the COVID-19 landscape.

Guy Henderson, Chief Executive Officer at Ascot Racecourse, said:

“We are pleased to be able to announce a return to our pre-pandemic prize money plans as we re-build. Whilst these plans have been unavoidably delayed, today is about looking forward. It is vital we maintain the quality of the British Pattern and the top end program generally. For obvious reasons, a large proportion of the increases announced today are focused on our 35 races at the Royal Meeting.

“Prize money is racing's equivalent of remunerating the players on the pitch. We need to offer the best we can in order to attract the best and help maintain international investment in British racing. Our next ambition, as we build Ascot as a global brand wrapped around world class racing, is to be able to offer at least £1m for each of our nine Group One races in the coming years.

“Field sizes for races of both codes are under pressure. With this in mind, we have applied a number of targeted increases across our program and raised our minimum prize money levels for both codes. Specifically, we have made some changes to QIPCO King George Diamond Weekend and expanded the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup to eight races with fields of 12; the established races increase from £60,000 to £75,000 and we have added two new £50,000 races.

“Our aim is for the stable prizes to incentivize owners and trainers to target these two fixtures and build on the successful trial at this year's Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup.

“I wish to conclude by thanking Ascot's staff, our customers and commercial partners for all their loyal support in 2021 which has so significantly contributed to the business being able to advance again in 2022.”

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