Marketing | Horse Racing Free Tips

Premier Racedays To Kick Off at Cheltenham Jan. 1

Premier Racedays, an undertaking by British Racing to market and promote racing's best racedays, will launch with the New Year's Day fixture at Cheltenham, the first of some 170 such programs to be staged in 2024.

Premier Racedays is part of a two-year series of changes with the aim of growing British racing by 'increasing engagement among new and existing customers, improving revenues across all areas of the industry, promoting investment in the sport through the recruitment and retention of owners, and encouraging the best horses to be bred, trained and raced in Britain.'

Premier Racedays will be supported by marketing and promotional suppoer, racecourse marketing spend and plans for a national promotional campaign, pending the submission of an application to the Horserace Betting Levy Board in line with the body's funding criteria.

Premier Racedays through 2024 will also see the introduction of innovation in the fan experience on an ongoing basis, for those attending on racecourses, betting, and watching on broadcast. Over 90% of Premier Racedays are to be broadcast across ITV and encompass the majority of racing's best and most popular racedays.

The key areas of innovation include customer promotion, broadcast innovation, customer experience, a digital content strategy, promotion of horse racing's equine and human athletes and betting, to offer a variety of incentives around Premier Racedays. Significant work is also in development to improve the ownership experience both on and off-course, with initiatives to be rolled out in 2024.

“British racing's stakeholders unanimously agreed the way to grow our sport is to better showcase and sell our best racing. The pilot of Premier Racedays is the start of this process,” said Joe Saumarez Smith, chair of the British Horseracing Authority. “Due to the way that our sport is structured, the first priority for the sport was to put the building blocks in place in the form of the changes to the fixture list and race programme and secure the improved funding of prize money. There is little point trying to sell Premier Racedays if the product is not, in fact, Premier. “I am grateful to everyone who has been involved in the ongoing development of these plans, including those directly involved in the sport and our partners in broadcast, the media and betting”.

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Take Me Out to the Ballgame: Letter to the Editor

If there are two sports whose paths have mirrored each other historically, it would be baseball and horse racing in America.

Both are tradition-driven and both enjoyed prominence for decades. And both recently have dealt with challenges, scandals and declining interest.

One sport though has chosen to embrace innovation.

Baseball has developed multiple changes over several years as they fought to gain fan, media and sponsor revenue. To our credit, racing has innovated in several spaces, specifically health and safety, but not so much in product presentation.

The last major product innovation in racing happened four decades ago with the creation of the Breeders' Cup.

Major League Baseball announced this week that they enjoyed their biggest year-over-year attendance increase since 1993. Because they listened. And they changed.
The energy is back in baseball. Media attention is back. And the fans are back in the ballpark and watching games on a bevy of media options.

Can we say the same of racing? Unfortunately, no.

But fortunately, it is not too late. As long as racing will step up to the plate right now and embrace meaningful innovation.

Need one example? There is a 100% chance that realigning the Triple Crown on a better schedule would result in more media attention, more wagering and a stronger safety message.

Earlier this year, leaders within the sport–Churchill Downs, Stronach, top breeders and others cried out for increased cooperation and collaboration.

There is no question that much of this was due to our safety crisis, but clearly the safety issue is only one of many that should–and must be addressed by a broad coalition of our industry.
That is if we want to remain relevant and follow a proven path, like our friends in baseball just showed us.

It took bold thinking and a never-give-up attitude by John Gaines to create the Breeders' Cup. And equally as important, it took thinking of the greater good by breeders and racetracks.

The evolution of racetrack ownership should make innovation much, much more possible than ever. You can count on one hand the entities that control the sport.

Throw in the Breeders' Cup and The Jockey Club and representatives from those seven could fit around a small dining room table!

There are 30 club owners in MLB involved in the decision-making process. Not to mention the Players' Association and others.

Undoubtedly, a Commissioner-led model greatly facilitates changes to baseball, but with so few involved to create meaningful innovation in racing, we can still change without requiring a Commissioner.

Want to truly pay homage to the 40-year anniversary of the Breeders' Cup? Create a “Gaines Commission” to study and implement strategic changes within racing.
Outside professional support would moderate our “think tank” project, at first with only representatives from the racing entities mentioned above.

As the commission begins to develop and agree on potential action, others (deservedly so) will be brought into the process. But for now, one step at a time.

Just as baseball went to a pitch clock, the Gaines Commission would be on the clock as well, directed to finalize their recommendations long before Breeders' Cup 2024.

Baseball changed and has been rewarded. Racing can do the same. Our changes will be different. Our changes won't be as easy.

But we don't have another 40 years to wait.

Kip Cornett is a Thoroughbred owner, bettor and sports marketer.

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Churchill Downs Announces 2023 Kentucky Derby Partnerships

The lineup of partners and licensees for the 149th Kentucky Derby, with new partnerships and renewals including Brown-Forman brands: Woodford Reserve, Old Forester, Finlandia, Tequila Herradura; BMW of North America, White Claw, FanDuel, vineyard vines, AT&T, Third Time Entertainment, Ford's Garage, Romero Britto, and Paramount Network's Yellowstone, was announced Thursday by Churchill Downs Racetrack.

“The Kentucky Derby is where global trends meet traditions in authentic, inspiring and impactful ways,” said Casey Ramage, Churchill Downs Racetrack's Vice President of Marketing and Partnerships. “From spirits to fashion and virtual entertainment to automotive, we're thrilled to embrace the variety our partnerships bring Kentucky Derby fans for an unbeatably enjoyable experience, no matter where they find themselves on Derby Day–at the track or at home.”

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Youth Collaboration Group to Promote Careers in Racing

The Youth Collaboration Group, for young people with an interest in horseracing and marketing, was launched by the British Horseracing Authority on Thursday. Headed by Careers In Racing, the careers marketing arm of the BHA, the Youth Collaboration Group will give young people the chance to contribute their views and ideas about marketing initiatives and content used to promote careers within the industry. The group is open to anyone between 14 and 21 years of age with a keen interest in marketing, graphic design, social media, video content, events and communications. To apply to join the Youth Collaboration Group, please visit www.careersinracing.com.

Zoe Elliott, Head of Careers Marketing and Recruitment at the BHA, said, “It's important for us at Careers In Racing to make sure that whatever we produce–be that a careers video or careers event–is relevant to the audience it is aimed at.

“We want to build a team of young people who really understand what we are trying to achieve, and who can give us some honest feedback, and co-create some of our initiatives. At the same time, we want to support them in developing work-ready skills to enhance their CVs.

“This is a really exciting opportunity, and we can't wait to get started. Youth Collaboration Group is our working title for this initiative so the very first activity they be asked to give feedback on is the creation of a name and logo for their group. We hope that lots of young people get in touch to be involved.”

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