BRITISH RACECOURSE INNOVATIONS ARE SHOWCASED AT AWARDS CEREMONY AT DONCASTER RACECOURSE
BRITISH racecourses are leading the way in selling horse racing to new audiences and developing original means of generating income for the sport.
It has led to the first ever 'Showcase and Awards' to celebrate innovation, excellence and marketing in racing.
Judges from Racing for Change, the Racecourse Association and the O2 Arena particularly heralded the achievements of Chepstow, Doncaster, Hamilton Park, Musselburgh and Redcar Racecourses.
Redcar Racecourse was judged to be the supreme winner.
The initiatives awarded 'Distinctions' - and announced on Tuesday (23 NOVEMBER) - ranged from:
- Generating profits for horse racing from a JLS concert (Hamilton Park);
- Creating a special Edinburgh Cup racing fixture and increasing the crowd by one third (Musselburgh);
- Developing an online communications strategy that led to 5,000 Facebook friends and 600 Twitter followers (Redcar);
- Turning Welsh National day into a showcase for Wales (Chepstow);
- To dressing the town of Doncaster with Welcome to Yorkshire during the St Leger festival and creating theatrical British and international catering (Doncaster).
The chairman of Racing Enterprises Ltd, Chris McFadden,
one of the judges, said:
"In pressing economic times, racecourses have
increasingly relied on their commercial enterprise and flair to
maintain their successes.
"There were a large number of very strong entries for this inaugural showcase of initiatives from racecourses. Many were fantastic ideas, so choosing those to receive 'distinctions' was a difficult task.
"New ideas must be driven by everyone, and the racing industry has to be willing to try new things and take risks. Successful racecourses lead to a successful horse racing industry, and we will continue to do everything that we can to encourage and assist racecourses to attract new audiences."
Doncaster was successful and won awards in three areas receiving Highly Commended in the categories of 'Directional Guidance' and 'Let The Show Begin' and achieving Distinction in the 'World Class Event' category.
Mark Spincer, Managing Director at Doncaster Racecourse
said of the three awards won by the course:
"It's great to see Doncaster and the Town
being recognised for forward thinking with the extended Ladbrokes
St. Leger Festival, in particular the newly introduced Ambassador
Programme. We worked very closely with Doncaster's tourism and
town centre teams and had the invaluable backing of our regional
tourism organisation Welcome to Yorkshire.
The four days of the Ladbrokes St. Leger Festival in particular were recognised by the judges as being delivered as a World Class event with special mentions for the introduction of new initiatives at the course related to involving and informing race goers during racing, to ensure that they enjoy the racing side of the event as much as the social experience. We introduced pre-parade ring commentaries, regular 'inter-race' live punters panels offering tips on the next race, live 'real-time' TV with Derek Thompson and al fresco cuisine on the Champagne Lawn. I set out with the team at Doncaster to ensure we engaged with the people of Doncaster on both racing and non-racing days, these are just the first steps. Following yesterdays announcement of the Royal Wedding next year the racecourse team are already working on how we can make that another huge celebration for the Town!"
The other judges were Neva Elliott, Senior Customer Services Manager at the O2 Arena, Voice of the Races Charles Allen, David Fraser of Harrison Fraser, and Caroline Davies, Racecourse Services Director of the Racecourse Association.
Among the 21 initiatives that were 'highly commended' by the judges were:
- Launching 'Liverpool day' during the Grand National meeting - leading to a five per cent rise in attendance (Aintree);
- Aiming at the younger set with a 'Lucky in Love' event (Beverley);
- Planting a herb garden on the racetrack and involving local schoolchildren in catering (Kempton Park);
- Jargon-busting with an 'Inside Track' campaign fronted by Radio 2's Johnny Saunders explaining the sport to new visitors (Newbury);
- Hosting drive-in movies (Plumpton);
- And camel racing with jockeys on board in the 'Sand National' (Sedgefield).
*Racing for Change is an initiative created by Racing Enterprises Ltd, the commercial arm of British horseracing. The Racing for Change board features all of the sport's key organisations and includes not only representation from the racecourses and the participants, but also the Horserace Betting Levy Board and the British Horseracing Authority, the bodies with responsibility for funding, governance and regulation.
